A case study of Linda Ikeji’s Blog

Prepared by Rita Omovbude PAU/SMC/PT3/110030

FROM HOBBY TO MONEY

SUMMARY

Chronicles

Linda Ikeji’s journey

from writing gossip stories

on her blog to finding fortune

in the process.

Analyses

the different

creative and innovative

milestones on her

path to success.

Using

her blog

as an effective

rallying point for social

reformation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background

Journey To Financial Freedom

Analysis Of The Context

Challenges Faced Till Date

Potential And Actual Impact

Conclusion

Works Cited

BACKGROUND

The origin of blogging dates back to the days of personal diaries and other written forms of self expression.

Online media such as discussion forums and e-mails are said to be predecessors to blogs.

Blogs can therefore be defined as an internet based tool for self expression, sharing information and creating conversations.

Wordpress.com is one of the most popularly used weblog and it boasts of 29.2 million new posts produced by users and 40.5million comments each month. Over 394 million people view more than 3.7 billion pages each month.

These figures are a reflection of the level of influence that blogs have in this age.

JOURNEY TO

FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Born in 1980

One of the top fashion and photography

Models in Nigeria between 1998 to 2006

Stopped modeling at age 25

A graduate of English Language from

the University of Lagos.

THE DISCOVERY

Linda received a phone call from a friend who sent her a link of a blog that posted a story about her. This blog happened to be BELLA NAIJA, one of the popular blogs in Nigeria too. This was her first encounter with any blog. She read the stories and comments written and was quite fascinated by the concept of the blog.

She became a constant visitor to the blog as a result as was then inspired to start her own blog in 2006.

Milestones

Linda started her blog in 2006 and didn’t start getting many readers until 2007.

At first her blog focused on stories about her life but she gradually made the shift from writing about her life’s experiences to societal happenings and celebrity stories.

August 2010 was the very first time she was asked for her rates online and she charged between N10,000 to N30,000 for a banner ad for a year

November 2010 she was offered a huge sum by a corporate organisation.

Today Linda charges as high as N600,000 for a banner ad a month and over a million naira for a page takeover a month.

As at November 19th 2012, the average views per day on her blog was 123,777 and total views for the year so far were 25million.

ANALYSIS

The Agenda-setting theory This describes the ability of the news media to influence the

salience of topics on the public agenda so if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important.

This theory comes to life in a different way as the mass media shows you what they comprehend as important news through the comments that they post on the blog.

Linda Ikeji’s blog is largely driven by content and comments. Her stories are woven around sensational news in the entertainment, political and social landscape in Nigeria and outside the country.

She uses pictures to drive the authenticity of her story and headlines that stir readers curiosity and then ends with a call to action that sets the agenda and tone for discuss or just a statement of an opinion about the subject matter in question, gets readers commenting and sharing the article.

GossipThere have been downsides to the kind of sensational news

an example is a congratulatory story about Richard Mofe Damijo’s Multimillion naira mansion built in his home town. This stirred up an online confrontation between Richard and Linda. Mr Damijo, being in government is averse to stories of this nature and made awful comments about Linda on twitter just to debunk her story.

A recent story also was also that of the alleged BRT bus that was said to have fallen off the third mainland bridge, which was confirmed on twitter by the FRCN to be untrue.

Social Awareness The flip side to stories on her blog brings to the fore social issues

that are unknown to many therefore creating a social responsibility platform that enables her make a difference.

One of such stories was a woman who was jailed for buying a stolen phone and was kept in prison whilst awaiting trial indefinitely. Besides ensuring that the story was posted on her blog, she mobilized Lawyers and people who could attend to the case of this woman and saw to her release.

Another story was about a man who needed funds for a surgical intervention. Fortunately one of the workers in the office of the Delta State Governor who reads her blog frequently brought it to the attention of the Governor and money was raised for the young man in question.

It is imperative to state that the blog is managed soley by Linda Ikeji and irrespective of the lack of manpower; she has been able to galvanize her readers to think about the things she writes about when they touch base with her posts on her blog site.

FACTORS THAT DRIVECREATIVITY & INNOVATION

Passion

Consistency

Niche

Talent

Education

Relationships

Rewards

CHALLENGES FACED

TILL DATE

Authenticity of content

From time to time, Linda posts stories that are not true or partially true thereby questioning the source of her stories and authenticity of the information on her blog.

 

Relationship issues

A lot of her stories are centred on celebrities who openly question her stories and taint her personality if the news does not compliment them in anyway.

POTENTIAL & ACTUAL

IMPACT

Leverage – Now that Linda’s blog is widely known and is profitable, she can begin to diversify beyond just running a blog. She can go into motivational speaking, or online TV shows or begin to write motivational books starting with her success as one of the top bloggers in Nigeria.

Employment – She needs to start training people who will be able to manage her blog in her absence, to give her room to divert into other things and plan for the future.

CSR – She already does this but she can set up a foundation based on the influence she has online and her ability to pull resources together for social development in the country.

CONCLUSION

Maya Angelou

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”  

 

Works Cited

 

Ndani. TV (2012 September 1) Linda Ikeji on the Juice [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxKaWvGqSZc

 

Cameron. C. (2011, March 14) A brief history of blogging (retrieved) 2012, December 7 (from) http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/03/a-brief-history-of-blogging/

 

Blogger (2012, November 19) Linda Ikeji’s blog (Sitemeter) retrieved from http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s1619800

THANK YOU