Jun 10 2008
The Plan
Right now, my blog serves a large community, but this community isn’t necessarily being reached. A huge part of this is the time I spent publicizing my blog. However, if we’re focusing on Diasporic Africans in their 20s and 30s, reaching my audience isn’t too much of an issue, because this groups spends a lot of time online. For them it’s a great way to keep in contact with friends and family who may still be in the home country or elsewhere in the Diaspora.
There are many different online communities dedicated solely to Africans. There are yearly reunions, student organizations, facebook groups, fashion shows, beauty pagents. Africans have pride in their culture and like to build a strong community no matter where they are.
One thing lacking however is a site that truly connects the Diaspora to the continent. There are some sites (most featured on my blog roll) that attempt to do this, but few do the things I plan:
**For one, Out of Africa would be more of a group blog with at least one contributor from each continent. I’d also do a lot more original reporting versus news aggregate. This will allow there to be posts and thoughts expressed from all over the Diaspora and not just the U.S. I think this is the main element/plan for the blog. I also feel like this is the one thing really missing for the African Diaspora. Usually one only knows what is happening within their small communities (either city-wise, or country-wise), but not the community at large. But there is an interest. One is always interested in what their counterparts are doing elsewhere and also what opportunities or lifestyles are available to them if they choose to ever move back home or to another part of the Diaspora.
**Reader’s Circle: I really like to read, and I like to talk about books. I had so much fun doing my audio interview about “Things Fall Apart” and would be interested in doing more things like that on my blog. I’d like to have this feature, which would be its own page offering a mix of book reviews and interviews with readers, academics and authors. All the books will be by African authors or about Africa. A huge portion of this community reads (education is a BIG thing for us) — and from conversations with family and friends, and group discussions on facebook, it seems like Africans in the Diaspora are craving literature written by their own people.
**News Column: Running down one of the sides, or streaming across the top, top news stories (from or about Africa) from the day. allafrica, BBC and CNN are really good news sources for Africans, but this will be an easy stream for them to get quick headlines and lil’ updates without having to read long stories. Also, since there are sites that provide good news, I don’t think my site needs to cover news in depth, but offer more news analysis/start discussions about the news out there.
**Continental Overviews: a page featuring basic geographic, political and historic information about each of the 54 countries in Africa. This will also feature or highlight places that are “hot spots” (experiencing a lot of conflict, having economic booms, going through poltical crisis — various information or situations that make a country a news item, both good and bad).
**Out of Africa and Back Again: Discussion about the brain drain and the need of Africans to return back to their home countries is a hot topic within the African community. This editorial feature will offer resources for people considering returning home. Discuss issues and incentives revolving around returning back to Africa. It will also provide information about how Africans in the Diaspora can help their home countries without returning home (after all, it’s not for everyone).
The Design right now is bold and clean and I think overall is attractive and works. I like the colors (although I’d prefer a red and black, I think). But one thing lacking are page tabs. This would definitely help with navigation and general order; especially with all the planned features.
With this plan, Out of Africa 2.0 would be a huge resource for the African community and would be a worthwhile blog to visit and to keep up!
