New social network by Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji to pay top users
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji
hopes the new venture will be the next Facebook. Unlike other networks
she plans to give cash incentives. Those with more than 50,000 followers
can earn revenue from the advertisements placed on their profiles.
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5 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji
has grown a large following since she started blogging 10 years ago.
Today she has 1.32 million Twitter followers and 796,000 following on
Instagram.
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6 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Besides
chatting with friends and getting the latest news, users can upload
original news stories. If accepted, the network will pay out N8,000
(around $25) to writers.
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7 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji's
own blog, which she started in 2007, has around 7 million page views
per day and is especially popular with Nigerians living abroad.
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Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Nigerian millionaire blogger Linda Ikeji has launched her own social networking platform -- Linda Ikeji Social (LIS).
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Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
A
former model from Lagos, Nigeria, Ikeji says her social network, LIS
(Linda Ikeji Social) has something others lack: a one-stop shop for
everything online.
Hide Caption
2 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
LIS launched on November 1, and had 50,000 sign-ups within the first 24 hours.
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3 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
The
social network has a news and gossip section, an online marketplace and
a space where people can share their own news articles.
Hide Caption
4 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji
hopes the new venture will be the next Facebook. Unlike other networks
she plans to give cash incentives. Those with more than 50,000 followers
can earn revenue from the advertisements placed on their profiles.
Hide Caption
5 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji
has grown a large following since she started blogging 10 years ago.
Today she has 1.32 million Twitter followers and 796,000 following on
Instagram.
Hide Caption
6 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Besides
chatting with friends and getting the latest news, users can upload
original news stories. If accepted, the network will pay out N8,000
(around $25) to writers.
Hide Caption
7 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Ikeji's
own blog, which she started in 2007, has around 7 million page views
per day and is especially popular with Nigerians living abroad.
Hide Caption
8 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
Nigerian millionaire blogger Linda Ikeji has launched her own social networking platform -- Linda Ikeji Social (LIS).
Hide Caption
1 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
A
former model from Lagos, Nigeria, Ikeji says her social network, LIS
(Linda Ikeji Social) has something others lack: a one-stop shop for
everything online.
Hide Caption
2 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
LIS launched on November 1, and had 50,000 sign-ups within the first 24 hours.
Hide Caption
3 of 8
Photos: Millionaire blogger launches social network
The
social network has a news and gossip section, an online marketplace and
a space where people can share their own news articles.
Hide Caption
4 of 8
Story highlights
- A new Nigerian social network hit 50,000 users 24 hours after launch
- The platform plans to pay their most popular users
- Popular blogger Linda Ikeji is behind the new venture
(CNN)Love
her or not, she's one of Africa's most famous news and gossip writers.
Now she's hoping to take on Facebook with her very own social network,
which she says hit 50,000 sign-ups on the first day.
Linda Ikeji, a former model from Lagos, Nigeria, says her social network, LIS (Linda Ikeji Social) has something others lack: a one-stop shop for everything online.
"About 30-40 million Nigerians are now online, and they go through so many sites," Ikeji told CNN.
"They
go to Facebook for connecting with friends. They come to my blog to
read the news. They buy and sell things and go to places like Nairaland
where they exchange opinions."
Just six days in, the network has 86,000 followers. Within the next five years, Ikeji said she hopes to be the new Facebook.
"Facebook
is my competition," said the businesswoman, who is famous for her
tabloid reporting, which many have criticized for promoting gossip and
lacking in credibility.
In 2014 her blog came under scrutiny
amidst allegations of plagiarism and unfair usage of images which led
to the blogging platform Blogger, run by Google, temporarily taking her
website offline.
Paying the popular
Apart
from her controversial ways, she differs from Facebook in another major
way, however. Her plan is to pay people who gain a lot of followers on
the site.
"Once they have 50,000
followers on their page, we will automatically start monetizing it. That
means we will put our client's banners on the page and pay you a
commission from what they pay us."
The cash incentives are paid
out to the so-called 'wallet' -- a section on the network where people
add their bank account details.
It
remains to be seen if anyone will hit that high. For now, she will pay
out a weekly share of her advertising revenue to the most popular
accounts, she says.
"Next week we are putting N20,000 ($63) each into 50 people's wallets," Ikeji said.
The network also plans to pay users N8,000 (around $25) for original news content.
The aim of the business is to give back to the online community.
The
strategy could mean good money for users, and the social network who
gets help with attracting people to sign-up. A win win, she explains.
"Being
on social networking sites make the (site) owners billionaires. You
being on our site will make us money, but at the same time we will share
some of that money with you."
A million dollar business
Ikeji is everywhere in the online sphere, with 1.32 million Twitter followers and 796,000 following her Instagram account.
It
all started 10 years ago, when she was modeling, and came across a blog
post about herself. "I liked it and I wanted to start my own blog."
Back
then, blogs were more personal accounts of people's lives, she said. "I
wanted something more interesting. I wanted to do gossip and news, and I
gave them something different."
Already a celebrity, it quickly drew a lot of readers.
"It was like a celebrity blog: people knew who I was and were very interested in what I had to say."
It seems to have worked. Today her blog
has around 7 million page views per day and is especially popular with
Nigerians living abroad in countries such as China, Dubai and the U.S.,
according to Ikeji.
"It's the number one blog in Nigeria," she says.
However popular and successful she claims to be, Ikeji continues to be controversial. Some say she is getting rich on gossip.
She says the criticism is mainly down to two things: Jealousy and the usual online critique famous people often endure.
"There
are people who are jealous, because they don't understand how somebody
can be so successful at something so many others are trying to do."
Others simply don't like what she does, but Ikeji seems unfazed.
"They may not agree with the way I do stuff. They will criticize and show their opinion, which is fine with me."
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