How I see Nigerian Blogsville

I remember as a new blogger, when I could hardly get traffic to my blog. I could only boast of about four followers after almost a year of blogging, and I always had to drag my colleagues at work by the ear to read my posts and beg them to drop comments, just to be sure that what I was writing was making sense.

I stumbled on some blogs, and read in the comment session how they addressed themselves. They knew about one another, they were always rushing to drop comments on new posts, and they even rejoiced and danced whenever they became first to drop a comment on someone’s post. Some of them had like 20 followers, which I found very impressive, seeing I could not get up to 5 in a year. Some had like 40 and some had like 100. 100 followers? For me, that was the height. They all seemed pretty close, and were a very strong clique. They referred to themselves as blogsville.

After a while, I so much admired them, that I dropped comments on one or two blogs, asking how I could join blogsville, because I thought blogsville was like this virtual internet village where you have to register and become a member, so you can know and support one another. Some did not answer me, but one lady said all i needed to ‘join blogsville’ was just become a Nigerian blogger. It did not make sense to me cos I was a Nigerian blogger and I did not seem to be part of this much admired blogsville.

After a while, I just let it go and concentrated on my traffic-less blog, working on the quality on my posts. I left blogger for about 5 months, due to stress at work, and a came back when I noticed that my gift of writing was getting too strong to be ignored.

I started posting better things, few people followed me. I checked their blogs out, and followed back, commented, etc, not because I was looking for followers, cos I wasn’t even aware that following and commenting on other people’s blogs could increase visit to your site, but I began to notice a difference.

For example, Myne would come visit me, comment and go, when no one was even willing to look at me. I visited back and I saw that she had like 300 followers even though we started blogging around the same period (obviously, old things have passed away for Myne).

I started to know people on blogsville, and the remaining, as they say, is history.

So back to the main topic, how I see blogsville…

I love Nigerian blogsville, i won’t lie. This is because overtime, we have come to create another virtual, yet real, world of our own. It is a very strong community.

Imagine a real village, having people of different temperaments, people you like, people you don’t like, people you are indifferent about. People with varying opinions and views about life, yet doesn’t make any of them better than the other. Just think about that village, it might be in Abeokuta, Ihiala, or Otukpo, and put it in a virtual world, that’s how I see blogsville.

Someone told me that her friends always wonders when she talks about people in blogsville, and they think she’s in sane, because they can’t see anything, and she tells them "These people are real. There’s actually this world/community that exists on the internet, and they are very real just like you and I.” And she’s telling them about how one blogger did something to another, how one loves another, etc. But they just look at her like she’s crazy or so.

What sealed it for me was the famous blogsville fight exactly a year ago. The so-called team pro-gay vs anti-gay. The way everything blew up. It was like a real life fight, in which I kept silent before anyone had the opportunity to deck my head. It just portrayed to me what a strong force we are. So much emotion, people left blogsville, people fought, made up, laughed, cried, etc. And you say it is just internet? I think blogsville is more than just internet. It is a community. Twitter can be ‘just internet’, facebook can be ‘just internet’, but blogsville is a community, not just a virtual one, but a real one, and I am glad to be part of it.

The only requirement to join this community to let yourself known, and be friendly to the ones already there, and voila, you are in. Else, you will stand alone in the cold for a very very long time, just like I did, while you watch others cuddle one another. It’s not because they are wicked, they just don’t know you exist.

Did I mention that in this community, there are two major clans? Watch out for my next post.