Blogs taking off in Africa - African Voices Heard Online

By Steve Bloomfield, The Statesman, Nairobi, Kenya

Daudi Were, a 28-year-old Kenyan, still reads newspapers. But if he really wants to know what’s going on, he turns to the blogs. And he’s not alone.

Blogs are taking off across Africa as a new generation of tech savvy 20-and 30-somethings take advantage of growing Internet access, filling a vacuum left by state-controlled and heavily restricted media outlets. The African blogosphere was, until recently, filled by the African diaspora and Westerners living in Africa. But increasingly, native African voices are being heard.

Kenya, in particular, has seen a large growth in the number of bloggers. The Kenyan Blogs Webring began in 2004 with just 10 sites ~ now it has more than 430, blogging on everything from politics and business to arts and culture.

“When I first started blogging most of my readership came from outside Kenya,” said Were, who runs a blog entitled mentalacrobatics. “However, increasingly we are seeing more and more hits from within Kenya. The Kenyan youth in particular are embracing the Internet.”