It’s exactly a year since some bloggers in Ghana(Top 50 Bloggers) were privileged to be ranked by Avance Media , a firm specialized in ranking and awarding individuals and institutions.
A look at some posts on social media and WhatsApp platforms indicate that some people are still in pain or have reservations over their positions as well the criteria used in the ranking.
As expected, those who made it to the list welcomed it with joy while others who didn’t make it or weren’t okay with their positions criticized the firm for ‘a poor’ work done.
In two weeks time, the firm is expected to release another list of Top 50 or so bloggers at the Bloggers Summit 2019 to be held in the first week of November.
Looking at the number of publications enjoyed by the release of the top list and the conversations it raised over the past months, we can say that it has enriched the profiles of bloggers and as such we can only give out suggestions to make subsequent lists more credible and accepted by all.
Firstly, I expect to see only bloggers on the list. Last year, there were several faces who appeared on the list but are not bloggers or do not fall within our traditional definition of who a blogger is. They are either artiste managers, music/event promoters or just owners of websites managed by other bloggers. I also noticed faces of Vloggers in the list of Top Bloggers in Ghana. As it may sound okay to include vloggers, I propose all vloggers should be considered if it is assumed that these few vloggers who appeared on the list are considered vloggers. If it’s limited to bloggers, then only bloggers are expected to be ranked.
Second is the criteria for ranking. The criteria of ranking should be clearly stated to clear the doubts and brouhaha created by the first list. The first names that appear on this list clearly show that the ranking was done or largely influenced by traffic or social media following. While public appeal could not be ignored, blogging is mainly about the content shared. Not all bloggers are expected to own websites or blogs. So I suggest that much attention is paid to the content being shared by bloggers other than the traffic the content receives.
We can all admit that pornographic/nudity content is likely to receive much traffic than that of a developmental issue.
Tourism, Education, Technology and the likes are all aspects of blogging that some bloggers are focused on. Should we say because these bloggers may never be able to pick up a national trend that may bring them huge volumes of traffic, they should not be consided as bloggers?
So Avance Media shouldn’t just look at Alexa Rank and re-submit to us as Top Bloggers. Those interested in ranking well on Alexa have their way around it without necessarily receiving much traffic. Blogging is about what’s being shared, not necessarily the number of people who see them. So new faces doing great things but not noticed are expected to make it to the list and not music/event promoters or vloggers (If vloggers, then consider Teacher Kwadwo and all the Facebook Live guys).
The order. Is it really necessary? Top 50 bloggers in no particular order should do away with all the noise about who should be first and who should be last. I suggest that the list is made in alphabetical order so that we can do away with who is first and who is last kind of arrangement.
And well-known bloggers must be involved in the ranking. When bloggers are ranking bloggers, we know who to put first and who is contributing greatly towards the development of the other bloggers in the industry. Input from bloggers will go a long way to establish long-lasting credibility.
Bloggers or blog owners? I noticed that blog owners were being mentioned instead of the hard-working bloggers making sure that these blogs are what they are and feeding their audience with content every minute. Instead of Toni Kusi who owns (or co-founded) the blog and behind the scenes handling the technical stuff, I expected to see the hard-working bloggers who blog on ghpage listed instead. Though Chris Vincent and Ameyaw Debrah own their blogs, there are bloggers working on them who are actually doing the blogging and deserve to be considered. So the ranking must indicate if it’s for bloggers or blog owners. Maybe a separate list to rank blogs can be considered instead of mixing them; Top 50 Blogs.
The Writer, Israel Boafo Bansah, is a well-known blogger and education consultant.
