Africans are talking! Yes in 140 characters. Many have noticed the rise of Africans bloggers and interesting tweets about Africa recently. I love it! Why this is happening, asked Top Bloggers from the Twitter community… Well African has stories to tell I replied. For decades Africa story has interested millions of individuals. The real stories have not been told or 30% of them were reported inaccurately. For the African people, the oral tradition they are used to is linked to their way of life. Most African societies place great worth in oral tradition because it is a primary means of conveying culture. It is also a mode of transmitting feelings, and attitudes. For centuries, African people depended upon oral tradition to teach the listener’s important traditional values and morals pertaining to how to live. Oral tradition delivers explanations to the mysteries of the universe and the meaning of life on earth. In African religion, it is the guiding principle in which to make sense of the world. Oral tradition is non-written history, its spoken word only. Historically, most African societies did not have an invented alphabet. Before the invention of written language, and before the advent of widespread literacy, oral tradition was much more of a daily presence in people’s lives than it is in our world today. Nowadays, popular forms of storytelling in Western culture include movies, television and Social Media (Twitter, Facebook etc…)

West African storytelling, the Griots are the keepers of the culture, as their amazing memories and storytelling abilities allow them to keep alive the culture, history, and genealogies of their people.

We know that in Africa a voice was the vehicle in which knowledge was passed on from one generation to another. A single Voice unified a family, clan, or community. Enforcement of customs depended on voice. When a person died…his or her voice was no longer to be heard, it was as if a whole library had been destroyed. Voice is important in Africa. …Most African people did not invent an alphabet for the art of reading and writing. Therefore they could not keep written records of their history. Instead they passed on information form one generation to another, by word of mouth.

Not only Social media is encouraging African people to write, tell and share more stories that can be archived for the next generation it is also one of the vehicles of the Rebranding of Africa™.

I have seen the rise of excellent news site like AllFrica and Africa news.

Some of the African bloggers I have noticed in recent days are: @tmsruge @Ethnicsupplies, @directassist, @ajmunn @KengeGunya @HillsofAfrica @planyoursafari @thebestofzambia @schoelink @AcaciaAfrica @PinkSafaris @ontdeksafaris @InkosiAfrica @Mnashy, @mjamme

Keep blogging… @mjamme