African blogs

The international phenomenon of social media Web sites like Facebook and Twitter over the past few years has influenced the African nations that enjoy Internet connectivity. Initiatives for African social media sites have rapidly sprung across the continent.

The three biggest success stories of homegrown social media projects in Africa are Afrigator - a South African aggregator of African blogs and news, Zoopy - a YouTube/Flickr-like service that is also run in South Africa, and Ushahidi - an SMS crisis reporting and mapping engine from Kenya.

All three Web sites have garnered international acclaim, which has resulted in major backing from foreign investors. These initiatives have helped Africans technologically be on a par with their Western counterparts.

Blogs are taking off across Africa, run by a new tech-savvy generation of Africans. The African blogosphere is filled with native African voices discussing their views on their continent. The blogs have become the most popular source of information, and especially in nations where newspapers are state-owned or censored, they are the citizens' only source of credible information.

"The majority of African blogs are really useful because they are independently run, and don't come through a major publisher," Ramon Thomas, the founder of the South African online research organization NETucation, told Deutsche Welle. "Therefore they have more freedom and the writers can say the truth and really express themselves."

Blogging has become so popular and useful in the context of modern African societies that the Waxal-Blogging Africa Awards are annually presented for the best blogs, by the Panos Institute of West Africa (PIWA), a non-government organization dedicated to promoting democracy through communication.

Blogs hold governments accountable

Many African blogs function as tools for social responsibility and grassroots activism. The majority of bloggers are using communication technology to empower citizens to take control of their own development by posting cutting edge solutions to development problems on the blogs.

African bloggers are conscientious in using their blogs to increase political accountability from their governments. The rise of blogs has allowed for more interaction with administrations. Politically conscious blogs are undermining the efforts of dictators and totalitarian governments, allowing them to be held more accountable for their actions.

"Bloggers write about what politicians are doing and hold them accountable to statements they make, such as promises to do something," Thomas said. "Bloggers can say a politician said something and they were there when it happened, and demand to know why the politicians haven't stuck to their word. Mobile phones are used to capture images, as well as audio, which is uploaded on to the blogs, leaving politicians unable to deny when challenged."

Politically focused blogs are handled professionally, Thomas added, the intention is for even professional journalists to be impressed with them when they see them.

Blogs have become the leading tool of citizen journalism in many African countries. When oppressive governments clamp down on traditional media during crisis situations, bloggers usually rally and function as the only means by which the rest of the world is informed of the situation.

For instance, within 24 hours of the outbreak of the post election violence in Kenya in 2008, Kenyan blogs were posting hour-by-hour reports of the turmoil. The government enforced a shutdown of the mainstream media. The only way to get any news was through the blogosphere, on blogs such as Kenyan Pundit and Thinkers Room for example.

In addition, Kenyan bloggers used Google Earth to create a mash-up of where the violence was taking place and created Ushahidi - a site for people to send SMS or email reports of acts of violence directly to the site.

During the most recent crisis in Zimbabwe, blogs were also used to disseminate vital information to the outside world when the government started restricting communication.

"We will definitely see more of citizen journalism through the blogs," Thomas said. "It can become very powerful. Lots of people are committed to creating awareness and they take it very seriously. We are telling our own stories as Africans, and these stories are accurate because they are told by the real people on the ground."

African political campaigns embrace social media

The 2009 elections in South Africa were a watershed moment for African campaigns because, for the first time, politicians embraced social media like Twitter during their campaigns.

Inspired by the techno-driven campaign of US President Barack Obama, the main parties all had Web sites with blogs, videos, donation links, and the chance for voters to express themselves. The Democratic Alliance (DA) regularly used Twitter while the Congress of the People (COPE) party placed its toehold on Facebook.

However, critics pointed out that the political leaders were regretfully absent from the online chatter.

"The beauty of online usage in Obama's model is that his key advisors and he took the time to engage with users online," said Jude Mathurine, a new media lecturer at Rhodes University. "Our leaders did not take the time to join in online chats, encourage questions and emails to MPs, or even Twitter."

Other African nations are sure to join in making social media a part of election campaigns but some experts feel that is still a long way off.

"It's the beginning of a trend but it'll take at least 10 years before that'll really take impact in other African nations," Thomas said. "It's great though because using social media can draw in all kinds of people, especially the younger people. However, what we really need are great leaders who can inspire people to want to talk about them on blogs, like it happened with President Obama in the US."

Author: Faith Thomas

Editor: Sean Sinico