By Tulinagwe Malopa
Online news popularity is growing day by day. It doesn’t take a day without someone, somewhere accessing news online whether a video, a tweet or normal text story in news blogs.
Unlike the past where someone had to wait for an evening news bulletin on the radio or tomorrow in a newspaper, today the advancement of science and technology has made news production and dissemination easy. It just takes a second for someone to record news and share with the target audience instantly.
They provide audiences with a choice to use the opportunity to consume what is in their plate instantly based on what they wish to take and how it can help them make decisions.
This situation cannot deny the fact that it’s emergence may be advantageous and even disadvantageous based on how we choose to use it in meeting our needs and solving our problems respectively.
Online media have created a friendly environment for people to share ideas, information, news, views and even opinions regarding different topics to get much insights and information about a particular idea or an issue from a larger perspective.
It is the fastest medium which gives information at hand. It is no longer necessary for an individual to wait for news to be published two hours later while the same news can be published instantly by online media for audience consumption.
Content generation is now high; This simply means that the news that did not get space on the mainstream media can now be featured and get viral on the alternative media platforms.
It is easy for the online media platforms to facilitate instant interactivity and feedback of its audiences rather than the print and electronic media which does not give the feedback at hand.
As part of understanding how digital only news organisations in Tanzania capitalise the online space, our team at Nukta Africa visited Boresha Online Radio, one of the fastest growing online radio.
We wanted to learn, network and most importantly sharing in different ideas that can be used to improve the digital media industry as a whole.
Boresha Online Radio was initiated for the purpose of empowering and recognizing the non-mainstream content producers that could use the platform to disseminate their programs especially in art, music and educational contents to the general audience. It wanted this content specifically to reach the youth in Tanzania.
For Boresha radio, targeting non-mainstream content producers is a low hanging fruit they are investing in to win the market by showcasing the works of others through its platform.
Together with that mission of empowering the non-mainstream media content, Boresha also disseminate programs of its own that are art based, music programs and others that aim to educate.
Among the popular shows are Kabati la Vitabu which reviews different books written by local and international authors and how the lessons from the books relate to our daily lives and Boresha Biashara that gives basic business tips from successful people in Tanzania. This kind of content is rarely in the mainstream media especially on book reviews.
From the incredible work done by the Boresha Online Radio, we wanted to share experiences on how the radio could use data and other digital tools to produce impactful stories that change people’s lives.
Considering the numerous challenges facing online media across the world, Tanzanian online media still have a big task of winning an audience who will be returning to their platforms everyday to seek for content as well as contributing revenues that will make the news organisations sustainable.