BLOGGING IN CAMEROON: A BATTLE BETWEEN PASSION AND BUSINESS

The advent of the Social Media via the internet in recent times has seen the growth of internet influencers and notably blogging now trending due to it’s potentials and popularity. Perhaps because it’s easy to start a blog thanks to self hosted platforms such as WordPress.org, Blogger by Google, Over-Blog.com etc.

            "HOW PASSION DEVELOPES BLOGGING"

It is important to note that blogs are created and started for so many uncountable reasons but above all from passion through a personal conviction of the possession of information, experiences, knowledge, the blogger intend to share to a given community, region, country, continent or the world at large (since it becomes global on the WWW). As said, the passion and conviction is definitely what shapes the blog’s orientation (Fashion, Social Critic, Health, Food/Nutrition, Sports, Music/Entertainment, Technology, Life Styles, Games, Story Telling, Abstract writings, Arts observation and critics, News relays etc)

Passion in blogging leads to specialization and specialization leads to recognition, credibility and a respected group of followers. What do I mean by this? The bandwagon effect (people turn to adopt a popular point of view for the simple reason that they accepted by others) plays an important role in getting and keeping followers online and your passion tells you immediately your area of expertise deemed necessary for blogging because a blog typically focuses on a particular subject matter for clarity and focus.

"THE OBSERVATION IN CAMEROON"

Cameroon being a diverse country is bless with two cultures, the French and English cultures, backed by its multiple indigenous cultures. Below are the categories that run the online presence in Cameroon;

1. Facebook Influencer: Very common among the Anglophones, these are individuals through their observation of the society, social media, and activities pick out and share certain topics for discussion online and in return gets a huge interactive feedback through comments. Some few examples would include: Tapang Ivo Tanku, Alenne Menget, Braun Hill,
2. Online News Media: Dominated by French online news magazines, these are news organ solely online but covers almost everything happening within the country and are highly referred for news. Examples include camer.be, cameroun-online.com, camnews24.com, camerpost.com, newsducamer.com,
3. Online Web Magazines: Here you will find and observe a variety of magazines most especially Culturally oriented focusing on Music, Fashion, Urban Movements, Arts ans Cinema examples of such in Cameroon include; Kamerkonnection, MboaUrban, JeWanda, Culturebenne, Chap Chap Mag, Kurbain, BetaTinzs, KwataMag, Bikutsi Atitude, C’Komment Publishing etc these group of Magazines appeals to the youth and a more younger and active population, and are not necessarily BUZZ making but consistent in information flow.
4. Blogs: Just as elaborated in the introductory paragraphs of this article, blogging now becomes intriguing between the Anglophones and Francophones communities in Cameroon. What do I mean, in the in the francophones community, we witness a great sense of the understanding of blogging and can actually identify specialized bloggers for example on environment there is Mathias Mouendé Ngamo , LifeStyle and Tourism , Elodie Nonga , Digital Marketing - Paul Emmanuel NDJENG , Social Media + Digital Marketing - Aurèle Simo, Blog Monetization – Einstein Muki , Fashion - Lydia Epangue (UK based), Hilda Ngelo (UK based), Mbole Ekaney (US based), Food Blogger Precious Meshi Nkeih (US Based) etc
5. News relay Blogs: These are a new and trending way of blogging, where blogs play a very vital role in reporting news and events as they happen. Here the blogger does not follow any rule but say it as saw and heard . This a very common genre within the Anglophone community and has the capacity of generating and keeping followers examples include; Bandy Kiki , Valery Atia - www.kamerkongosa.com, Fon Felix – www.kamerlink237.wordpress.com etc

"THE INFLUENCE OF BUSINESS ONTO BLOGGING AND A BLOG"

Naturally talking business means talking money right? Blogging a concept still developing in Cameroon, has been caught by the web of Marketing. The urge to increase sales/Awareness/Visibility and the lack of a substantial online marketing strategy by most companies and businesses in Cameroon has prone the belief to think bloggers as a marketing agent. Before adding the added advantages of a blog to a business or company as opposed to the traditional media, lets look at the traditional media. Companies and businesses are very comfy that traditional media don’t act as sales agents but rather getting the information to its audience regardless if they are reached or not (More on this in another article), When it comes to blogs, Companies insist to know the reach per article, likes, clicks, visits , search engines rankings etc before considering to use a blog and at the same time thinking to pay far more lesser than the traditional media.

The pressure at times pushes bloggers to go off track their blogging objectives into sensational and scoop search and like it is said “Bad news sell more than a good news”. By this I mean being sensational, human interest oriented, get more readers to please a business structure

Consequently, attention should be place on the blog type, its target audience, its consistency, understanding of its niche, its followers and of course its reach in other words its traffic. This is so because Companies with a solid corporate identity most likely would preserve its image and name in associating or working with any blogger. In as much as a blog may have the traffic perhaps being sensational through unverified information, news, buzz, gossips, the corporate identity of a company may not permit its association with such a blog because it may fall back on them to be promoting the kind of information found on such a blog.

By: Valery Njiaba