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A while back I read a few blog posts that spoke of young bloggers abroad making waves and finding great success.
I am relatively young but I think that these posts are referring to bloggers younger than I am.
Where are the young bloggers under the age of 21 in SA? Are there any and if not, why not?
I can’t think of any and don’t read any but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. But is there really value for this sort of market in SA? Should we be looking for the next big thing now and getting them online and benefiting from their potential success? Is this exploitation?
I am also extremely interested to discuss what the next generation of bloggers will look like.
Should there be a batch of teenagers coming to the fore? Surely if blogging was taking off as much as bloggers think it would be reaching the younger generation and adopting the practice of blogging?
Could this be a sign that blogging is not all that it’s cracked up to be and it isn’t growing at the rate we all think it is? With so many teenagers on Facebook and using Mxit in SA in my mind it makes sense that some of them should be, could be and would be publishing their own content on blogs. But they just aren’t. Why?
A:Blogging transcends age
B: When you were 21 drinking and girls were the only things on your mind. Do you want to read about that? :p
Saul - A: Yes, blogging transcends age - but if it does and if it’s growing like we (read “bloggers”) think it is, then why is it not transcending to the younger people/publishers in SA?
B: When I was 21 I was blogging and it wasn’t about drinking and girls. If you read the articles I’ve linked to you’ll find a 14 year old American blogger making major cash via his blog and telling people how to do the same. You telling me there aren’t any incredible SA youths who can whip our asses online? I think there are, but where are they?
They’re telling everyone what they need to know on the platforms that they know they’ll be watching, ie. Facebook. Starting groups and inviting people on your friends lists (often not all close friends) is easier than starting a blog and trying to get people over.
Kids are lazy, dude.
Content is King, but Time trumps King. Teenagers want experiences and use micro blogging to connect with their communities in a meaningful way. They intrinsically get that time is a valuable commodity and are out there experiencing life and reporting on it in real time.
Apart from the fact that drafting long blog posts via your mobile phone is a pain in the ass, they don’t necessarily have a need to proffer up a long winded accounts of their lives. Their lives are mobile and they mostly live it through their handsets. Going online is for downloading music, playing games, sharing pics, organising your social life and the like. Blogging is way too time consuming and demanding.
South African youth have only very recently been introduced to communication platforms, please take the time to thank MXit for this.
Facebook chat has also been doing a decent job of introducing IM habits to the masses. As popular as MSN, GTalk and Skype is to the international world and the early adopters of SA, these services are yet to take off in SA with the masses!
There is a lack of education in terms of defining the requirements to enter the blogging world. Consumers (everyday ppl/not bloggers) have the natural tendency to assume that blogging is for the highly skilled web developer with an opinion and that the cost of hosting/designing/publishing the blog is quite high.
If you have any ideas on how to break away from this assumption and do some REAL educating, I’d be keen to hear it!
Good point. I know a huge number of bloggers in South Africa, and I must admit, most of them are of the age 23 and upwards. I know a couple who are towards the age of 21, but they aren’t ‘mainline’ bloggers at all.
I agree SaulK, most teenagers are too busy drinking and meeting girls/guys and so forth. That said, as we all know, it’s very easy to blog as well as live a normal life and work a full time job, so I guess there isn’t really an excuse.
Nice topic!