The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) on Wednesday held a blogging training for journalists in the Midlands province to expand journalists on how to be bloggers, imparting skills on how to open blog sites and manage them.
The Blogging Workshop held at Fairmile Hotel, included practicals on how to start blog sites and skills on expanding their influence in content generation online in light of the increasing internet use in the country through mobile phones and other devices.
Speaking after the workshop Bethel Goka a blogging expert and the day’s facilitator, accompanied by ZUJ Programmes Officer Eric Matingo, said the impetus of the workshop was to expand journalists’ knowledge on internet technologies which could ultimately lead to income generation.
“The aim of the workshop was to equip journalists on how to use internet technologies like blogging to expand their influence and hopefully build the numbers and have impact that may lead to generation of revenue.
“This becomes very essential when you look at current economic challenges that we are facing and how it is useful to be able to benefit from your skills as well as impacting inclination by content production,” he said.
Goka said the internet is now widely used and the vacuum in the journalistic profession was knowledge on how to expand skills beyond the traditional mainstream media platforms to alternative social media channels like blogs for self-discovery.
The Blogging training programme is ongoing, also set for three other provinces which include Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare imparting the same ideas.
Despite internet challenges, Goka said the Gweru workshop was successful with most attending journalists from Kwekwe and Gweru having set up their blogs within the training session and covered aspects on how to promote their blogs and make their presence felt on the web.
Meanwhile mixed feelings were expressed during the workshop surrounding the issue of setting up a Bloggers Association to guide and professionalise bloggers which might also be used to separate serious bloggers from chaff.
While some said trying to regulate and formalize blogging maybe a challenge as it is more of social media, others argued that it could be a noble idea taking a leaf from the Kenyans who already have an association, the Bloggers Association in Kenya (BAK).
