In the Grandiose Parlor…

As a blogger and budding web entrepreneur, this is one story I can’t overlook: a medical doctor that made some $300 million doing nothing but selling and manipulating domain names. How possible?

According to CNN Money:

“The man at the top of this little-known hierarchy is [tag]Kevin Ham[/tag] — one of a handful of major-league “[tag]domainers[/tag]” in the world and arguably the shrewdest and most ambitious of the lot. Even in a field filled with unusual career paths, Ham’s stands out.

Trained as a family doctor, he put off medicine after discovering the riches of the Web. Since 2000 he has quietly cobbled together a portfolio of some 300,000 domains that, combined with several other ventures, generate an estimated $70 million a year in revenue. (Like all his financial details, Ham would neither confirm nor deny this figure.)”

It remains a mystery why the majority of the Nigerian mainstream news media with significant real estates on the Internet have not taken steps to overhaul their various domains to reflect one of the most basic Internet trends of the new world – making their subscriptions available via RSS feeds (RSS: Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary).

Yet, most Nigerians are news junkies, particularly those of us in the Diaspora; the consumption of news about the homeland has become a daily addiction. Even more Nigerians are now embracing the newer Web 2.0 concepts of blogging, reading digital information via [tag]RSS[/tag] feeds, and creating personalized homepages (via Pageflakes, Netvibes, e.t.c.).

What is RSS?

According to Wikipedia:

“RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content…Users of RSS content use programs called feed “readers” or “aggregators”: the user subscribes to a feed by supplying to his or her reader a link to the feed; the reader can then check the user’s subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it checked, and if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user.”

The use of RSS feed subscription has become a standard on the web which the the major Nigerian mainstream news media have totally ignored.

What is Guardian (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/), ThisDay (http://www.thisdayonline.com/), Vanguard (http://vanguardngr.com/), Punch (http://www.punchng.com/Default.aspx), The sun News (http://sunnewsonline.com/) and BusinessDay (http://www.businessdayonline.com/) waiting for? Even the most prominent Nigerian news aggregating site – NigeriaWorld (http://nigeriaworld.com/) – has no RSS feeds!

These domains have more than decent traffic and patronage from readers in and outside Nigeria. They are among the top 100,000 most-visited sites worldwide according to Alexa’s metrics – a commendable feat by world web standard. The argument becomes even more potent since the cumulative users of these sites are not within Nigeria or Africa – a demographic group which I believe is predominately made up of the Nigerian Diaspora – a sizable community that is more familiar subscribing to RSS feeds, and one that will benefit the most from its use.

Why is RSS subscription relevant?

I see RSS feeds as baits.

Why would any media house “lock-up” valuable information on its domains, while it can be headlined, summarized or excerpted, and served in the World Wide Web as “baits” on RSS feed readers? All it takes is a “click” (and the bait is swallowed!) and the reader reeled into the relevant pages on the news site faster than just browsing through the enormous piles and pages of information.

It simply saves time! It expands the readership base. It offers subscribers (readers) and news vendors some productive ways of interacting with each other that do not exist at present. It is a really SIMPLE way of sharing information as the diagram above shows! (Image from www.state.wv.us)

We now live in a world that has shrunk into a global village where easily accessible information is key. Nigeria is at the very fringes of this village; we are not there yet. I’m strongly persuaded that the news media outlets can significantly facilitate our transition into this village. And the sooner the better – for them and for all Nigerians.

“Afrigator slides into the water”, “Afrigator- snapping up African contents” and “Steve Rubel digs Afrigator” are some of the “best rated posts” listed on Afrigator – the newest content aggregator for the African blogosphere.

Several bloggers have commented about the site, and from the look of things, it appears the future is bright for Afrigator.

The “channel” – one of the main differentiating elements on the Afrigator – is one that several of these bloggers (including myself) have applauded; however, it confused me while signing up on the site last night.

“Channel” is a listing of countries, duh! It looks simple, but some clarification could help sort things out better.

Is the channel:

• The country of residence? Using Oluniyi David Ajao’s style, a Nigerian blogger who has channeled his blog using Ghana – his country of residence.

• The country of affiliation? One could adopt Ethan Zuckerman’s style who “channels” his blog using his “country of affiliation”? Ethan is now officially a Ghanian, thanks to Afrigator! (I would have been utterly disappointed at Ethan if he had chosen another country .

• The country one blogs about the most? Many bloggers have broad focus and cover several regions in their writings.

• The country of birth? This is the approach the majority of bloggers have adopted regardless of their countries of residence or affiliation.

There are several blogs on Africa that are not authored by Africans. These group of bloggers have contributed immensely to the social, economic, and political conversations on our blogosphere. What happens to them? As I noted on Afrigator last night, only African countries can be selected as channels.

The blogosphere is a space where emotions tend to run lose and site metrics are vital. It will be good that when one looks at the “Afrigator channels”, it’s clear what it means.

Cable company beware; TV network duck for cover!

The [tag]Apple TV[/tag] is a paradigm-shattering invention, particularly in the niche video market. Think of being able to watch the latest Nollywood productions or local programs from your native country via iTune/iPod/Apple TV without having to buy any VCDs or deal with some lousy TV stations!

Although at about $300 a pop, it is still on the high side, but with time the price is bound to drop.

I can think of several ways this invention can be put to use…

http://www.apple.com/appletv/

• African Path: Pan-African businesses: Do they exist?

• The African Executive: Africa Needs Mind Reorientation

• Sahara Reporters: Buhari May be the Next Nigerian President According to the United States Survey

• My Heart’s in Accra: Nigeria: Open for Business

• nuvu.tv: NAFDAC Finally Closes Down Onitsha Fake Drug Market (Video)

• The Nation Soyinka to Senators: you’ve dug your grave

• Gapminder on Google: Graphical Display of Life Expectancy (yrs.) vs. Income Per Capita($)

• The Sudanese Thinker: Two Sudanese Women Sentenced To Death By Stoning

• White African: Amatomu: Tracking the South African Blogosphere

Nigeria has a mobile yellow pages, it’s also available on desktops.

According to Olatunde-Hythe, the chief executive of Xybertek Systems (the owner of pages):

“We happen to be the first company in Nigeria delivering Yellow Pages on mobile phones. We are providing businesses and Advertisers the advantage of every single way to connect with their audience. Our Mobile edition is an integral part of our strategy for providing the bridge between buyers and sellers regardless of time, channel or location.

“Mobile edition of NigerianYellowPages.com is a distinctive, high quality service providing users with extensive business information at whatever time of day or night they want it, from wherever they want it – it’s the only mobile phone or mobile device with WAP features they need.”

I remember being fascinated checking-out Rafiq Phillips’ (blogger at Your Group of Web Addicts) iDrive mobile application a while back.

Coincidentally while killing time on the Internet earlier today, I discovered WCIT (Wireless Customer Interactive Technologies) , a South African company that does mobile location based marketing via Bluetooth technology. How clever!

Readers may want to check White African’s paper on mobile web technology as well. Hash believes the effective use of the mobile web platform is the catalyst the dormant African media and ICT sectors needs. Well, it appears his prophesy is gradually being fulfilled.

Should the upcoming elections in Nigeria be decided by the candidates’ web presence and the creativity of their Websites, there is already a clear winner: Jimi Agaje the DPA candidate for Lagos state.

Agaje’s campaign Website is fashioned after social network site of Barack Obama, the black US democrat gunning for the white house. Given my experience building and maintaining the political site: mimikoforgovernor.com and the logistic nightmare liaising with those on ground in Nigeria, I have to give it to this Jimi Agbaje and his crew. I’m impressed!