Blogging -Blogging in Kenya has been evolving in calculated steps. It started with a lot of difficulties including lack of serious developers to threatened working environment.
Speaking to those who first joined this tech industry, they are few and they will all tell you that it was not an easy job because political environment was hostile. People lost lives in early days of the trade.
We had Robert Alai, Bogongo, Cyprian Nyakundi, Dikembe Disembe among a few more. The number was lean. In fact, countable.
Political Blogs
Most of these people only wrote about politics. It was not easy for them because political class always viewed them as a career threat and, in that process, they were warned, attacked and some who could not be lucky were abducted and killed. Correct example is Bogongo who, until today, has never been located. He was kidnapped at night from his Nairobi home by men who vanished with him forever. It happened at midnight.
Alai, who is now a politician, has survived this journey despite his hard-hitting articles. Also, just like Nyakundi, he has survived with his investigative pieces that included exposing corrupt State officials. He has, however, been sued several times.
Nyakundi has also suffered a similar fate. He has been sued for defamation by senior business owners as well as politicians. Interestingly, he won most of these cases. In fact, he brags to have won all.
Alai has been running Kahawatungu.com news website which used to run hot gossip and exposes. It has since toned down. He no longer writes hot stuff. In fact, he has gone the media way by embracing normal news items. He has writers on board.
On the other hand, blogger Nyakundi is still in it full time. He runs his website from Nairobi office and has contributions(correspondences) from various writers. He pays them well because most of them have been with him for years even after they graduated from school.
Other Blog Niches
In that order, came other blogs in gossip and technology. Notable example is Daily-post blog owned by Timothy Obare Rioba – a Jomo Kenyatta University JKUAT graduate. He has been around since 2012. He writes real original gossip and pure street propaganda. He has amassed massive readership across urban centers in Kenya. Young men follow his work closely because he, actually, writes and posts scintillating stories.
Though he runs many others, Rioba has made a lot of money from that single website. This success saw him vie for a senior political seat in his rural county. He didn’t win anyway but his ambitions are still alive.
Another successful blogger is Robert Mukami Ndungu of Kenyans.co.ke. His website which was launched in 2012, almost the same time with Rioba’s Daily-post, is great and runs full time with trained journalists on board. He has offices located along Waiyaki Way just opposite Safaricom headquarters.
Ndungu, a journalist by profession, has been consistent. His news website and which rivals mainstream establishments, makes him millions and ranks well on Google search. He earns from all revenue streams including direct corporate advertisements. He is lucky to have successfully broken into the multi-million corporate world. He rarely misses to have an advert from blue chip companies like Safaricom and banks like Cooperative Bank.
After this success, came new crop of bloggers including Chris Akali who owns Kenyawide.com and Pesatoday.com. He is doing so well due to his knowledge in writing. He is a trained creative journalist living and working from Nairobi. He trained in the United Kingdom U.K and knows this trade so well. Word has it that he makes some good money from his websites. He has the required skill and consistency, anyway.
His websites which focuses on news, finance and business makes money from Adsense and Sponsored posts.
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