Obifromsouthlondon, the Nigerian blogger (UK) at Soul on Ice, leads the pack of Bloggers that did a sudden somersault and “closed shop†to the surprise of their readers. It’s almost a year since Obi has “gone fishing” and moved on to a life away from the blogosphere.
It didn’t end there, some days ago another UK-based Nigerian blogger- Nkem at African Shirts, followed suit.
Today I read on Sokari’s Black Looks statements that strongly suggest she too has had enough.
These three would be among Nigeria’s “A-listers†if there’s such a list.
Unlike Obi that just disappeared into thin air, Sokari tries to offer some reasons for “quitting†or putting her blog on “iceâ€:
“Somewhere along the way things got lost. the bottom line is that really very few people actually give a fuck. SandMonkey was right after all - we live in a world of EXTREME APATHY. Who gives a shit about Khwezi, shackdwellers or violence against women, lesbians getting raped or young black men killing each other and then making t-shirts of the dead?â€
Nkem stated he’s taking a “sabbatical from bloggingâ€, stating “inspiration and motivation have been lacking recently.â€How long this sabbatical will be only Nkem can tell.
I’m taking a short break too, but will be back soon enough to finish and post the part 2!
I was shocked too. I mean, if there was a blog I thought wouldn’t ever stop being posted in, it’s Black Looks
May 14, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I worry, this blog-abeyance thing might become contagious, I wonder if I am immunised against this thing.
May 14, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Blogging is tough! You oughta be a real luney to keep up with blogging. I think folks should learn to take a break. Is it just me or personal blog seem to fade away first. I do not know if I am supposed to leak this here hmmm, a certain A-lister Nigerian blogger (one of the highest ranked on technorati is quitting too). What beats me is how fickle blog readers are. I stopped blogging for a month and no matter what I do I have not been able get back most of the lost readers. My question is this?
What should bloggers do to become more relevant. My response to Sokari is this, Is there anything we can do to make readers give a hoot?
May 14, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I’m sure Nigeria has new and greater stars waiting in the wings, waiting to speak up. Perhaps this new satellite will make internet access so ubiquitous that there’ll be just too many great blogs out there and nobody will be able to read every Naija blog update in a day. I just hope it beats all the 419s I get in my Inbox each day!
I haven’t updated my blog in a while mostly because I am not in Nigeria, I can see the stat’s are falling as each day goes by, but I didn’t start it for the hits, and I don’t think I’ll end it for the lack of them. My blog is mostly for me.
May 14, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Black Looks was a treasure. Sokari is great. She’ll return.
I have for years been a fan of Molara Wood. The Flying Monkees has a good grip on the music scene.
Your blog is great. You never know what the headline will be.
Regards.
May 14, 2007 at 7:54 pm
[...] Grandiose Parlor asks, “Is the Nigerian Blogosphere Dying?,”: “Obifromsouthlondon, the Nigerian blogger (UK) at Soul on Ice, leads the pack of Bloggers that did a sudden somersault and “closed shop†to the surprise of their readers. It’s almost a year since Obi has “gone fishing†and moved on to a life away from the blogosphere. It did end there, some days ago another UK-based Nigerian blogger- Nkem at African Shirts, followed suit. Today I read on Sokari’s Black Looks statements that strongly suggest she too has had enough.” Share This [...]
May 15, 2007 at 5:54 am
Obi & Sokari got me into this ‘business’ When Obi left, I left too. I came back, cos I couldnt stay away. I noticed Nkem’s silence. Sokari cant be leaving?
May 15, 2007 at 6:39 am
Waiting for part 2!!
May 15, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Hello, My two 8 cents on the issue is that Blogs like all things go through a growth cycle but since bloogers refuse to move on to the next step , there only option is close shop,die off.
Great blogs ought to become online media companies,online publishingfirms with staff and all.
They need to develop a revenue model and engage their readership in a corporate manner.
Refusing to to do the logical thing leads to death.
what starts as an hobby can become a profession,people act like all professioal occupations started like serious jobs. A lot of them moved from the coffins of meanigless hobbies to professional works society can not do without.
It is up to bloggers, African bloggers in particular to articulate the manner in which they plan to make that jump.
Good luck to all,, as of http://africaincorp.blogspot.com’s staff we are devising on the manner in which we are going to make that transition, our benchmark has been http://lifehacker.com and http://fleshbot.com
May 19, 2007 at 1:52 pm
@Frederic N’sienie smartest comment I have read in a long time
May 19, 2007 at 1:55 pm
To Frederic:
Interesting comment. I have been digging, quietly in this field for quite sometime now. There is no doubting the need for a great web platform, however, turning a media hobby is not as easy as it seems. It can be done, but requires building strong collaboration in addition to creating a great medium for consumers of good and decent content. Why you listed those sites in your comment as good yard-sticks is somewhat discouraging I must say.
May 21, 2007 at 9:32 pm
i think it is tied into the fact that personal blogs tend to have short half lives and almost every nigerian blog started is a personal blog. apparently the thing about seriously commercial blogs is that unless you are a celebrity, they are almost never personal. It’s a life-cycle thing and so i believe that nigerian blogging is here to stay. Though in another year we probably won’t recognise 90% of the people on the damn thing. Laters
May 22, 2007 at 11:59 am
To Imnakoya,
the words easy/hard always come to mind when contemplating a tasks, I think that the actual words that should come to mind are simple VS complicated, Timely VS Innoportune.
There is not such thing as easy, something might appear easy because the person(s) doing it know what and how to do. What might appear easy to a 20 years old is oddly hard to a 3 years old.
what are the components that permit the creation of a Online media company in general ? Are the components the same in the Africa context ( if there is such a thing )
You see, when discussing anyting we should focus on solution-driven response not so much linger on or fears,regrets or any emotional spikes( Generally speaking not intented to anyone). That is why the Points you made must be liked and expanded on:
Strong collaboration ( could u define strong)
Great medium and decent content ( define Great and decent)
Who is the target audience in your eye
Can you tell me in what way Lifehacker and Fleshboot are discouraging. They are doing a great job ( Check http://alexa.com) at attracting a traffic of readers. I think they were insighful in the way they utilized A blog interface to communicate Ideas that already covered by plenty of other media platforms: Cable TV,DVD,Regular Websites,Magazines.
Gawker media which is the company that is behind these two sites, Sexuality,politics,Technology/gadget,money are all topics that have always attracted the masses.
We may not agree morally with the topics( Sex and money) but we should not be snobbish and overlook their method of presentation and the feel( balancing content and Advertisement with flair) they gave their sites.
Cheers
May 25, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Frederic,
Most of my writings are based on my little experience, and I have discussed the topic you raised in some postings on site.
Sites like those listed in your comments have fantastic stats and this is simply because of their contents. Topics relating to gossip, sex and celebrity sells and will continue to, and this applies to blogs as well. If your business model is reared towards this, I’m sure the traffic will come.
May 25, 2007 at 8:13 pm
[...] In May, I mused if the Nigerian blogosphere was dying. This piece is a continuation of that conversation, and has some readers and those who commented to that post may have discerned, the Nigerian blogosphere isn’t dying, and doesn’t appear so any time soon. [...]
June 12, 2007 at 12:45 am