The proliferation of African online communication platforms is resulting in more understanding of the continent's civil society reality, but carries very little reward for the communicators, says Murray Legg, MD of Retroviral, an online communications agency.
"Blogs, Web sites, YouTube channels and tweets have become a platform for voices emerging in places where, traditionally, people did not grow up with newspapers or television as tools for accessing information," says Legg, who adds that by virtue of these two channels being limited, Africans had to develop other ways of being great communicators.
Elders in most societies, according to Legg, were always the port of call for news and information. He points out that the influx of various technologies and telecommunication platforms are serving as outlets for quick dissemination of information and news as it happens.
"These channels are almost superseding newspapers and television media, with blogs, for example, becoming more and more popular in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana," he adds.
"Africans want to communicate to the rest of the world that we are a great tourist destination, in some parts of the continent these online platforms are vehicles for change, as seen with the Arab Spring uprisings, and people are also engaging each other on socio-economic and religious issues."
On the back of this, Legg and his team at Retroviral have initiated the African Blogger Awards to, among other incentives; give credibility to African online communicators, social media influencers, YouTubers and Instagrammers who carry insightful content ranging from lifestyle, religion and politics to sports, travel and fashion.
"Through the selection process we've also observed differences in how different countries tell their stories. In South Africa, for example, we have bloggers that specialise in different aspects of our society, so you have very engaged Afrikaner bloggers addressing issues within their community, likewise Zulu bloggers doing the same with their audience," states Legg.
"This is in contrast to many African countries where content is still very much generalised. There are also a lot more religious blogs in a lot of African countries, a trend that's still dormant in South Africa."
On ascertaining the winners, Legg states that through his company's Webfluential platform, the judges are able to track each blog's specific reach, engagement and readership, then compare that to the other blogs in the same category.
Some of the blogs nominated include Naija D.E.E.V.A.S, a Nigerian fashion, lifestyle, style, culture and entertainment blog, Kenvibez, a Kenya-based online news aggregator and South African Instagrammer Graic Rodney who uploads pictures of the county's landscape, wildlife and travel.
Ultimately, Legg believes this platform will create a sense of belonging among online communicators regardless of geographical boundaries. The community will always be there even if these platforms no longer exist.
"As these platforms grow, big brands can tap into them and get insight in what consumers are saying on a personal level, then create branded content relevant to this feedback. This link with big businesses could also help communicators monetise their platforms," concludes Legg.
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