Guys, check out Kemi Filani’s recent interview with PUNCH newspaper

With over one million monthly visits to her blog, Kemi Filani,  tells ‘Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about her love for social media and how she started her platform

When did you start blogging?

I would say I stumbled into blogging
because I had no idea that such a profession existed until 2012. During
my service year with Channels Television, I was posted to the web
department and there I got informed on the basics of online reporting.
Along the line, I fell in love with it and appreciated it more than the
traditional reporting style that I was taught in school. I decided to
open a blog too and since I enjoyed writing from childhood, it became
easy and fun for me. Today, it is my profession. I was actually a youth
corp member when I started blogging.

Most people get into blogging first as a hobby before it became a full blown profession, was it same for you?

Yes it was. I was fortunate to serve
with the Web department in Channels TV and along the process, I fell in
love with online reporting and it became a hobby.

Did you get any form of discouragement from friends and family when you started?

No. I was lucky; nobody tried to
discourage me. As a matter of fact,  they encouraged me. They would
share links with their friends and offer suggestions on how to get
better.

How many views do you get daily?

It varies, but we currently get about a million views monthly.

Are there things you can’t post online?

You can’t catch me posting nudity or anything that doesn’t glorify God. Such is a no-no for me.

Social media has done more harm than good to some people, what is your take on this?

There are always two sides to a coin and
I am on the side that says social media has done more good than harm.
For instance, in areas like job creation for social media entrepreneurs,
online awareness for businesses, information, networking and
connection, couples meeting and getting married, government reaching the
governed and so on, it has done more good than harm.  In fact, the list
is endless.

Do you post every day?

Yes, by God’s grace. My love for
blogging and the desire to be successful make it easy for me to blog
every day. When I was initially the only one posting on the blog for the
first two years, it was tedious. I literally had no time for myself,
coupled with some other contract media jobs I had. I would go everywhere
and I mean everywhere, with my laptop just to make sure I didn’t miss
any breaking news. I would sleep late, wake up early. It’s still tedious
but it is easier now because I have an assistant with whom I share
schedules.

Do you visit other blogs?

Yes, a lot. I visit both the local and foreign ones.

Are there times you get tired of blogging and want to quit and leave the media platform for a while?

There are times I do get tired and I would also get discouraged. But I have never thought about quitting. I love what I do.

Are you active in other social media networks like Facebook and twitter?

Ah, yes, it is very important, especially Facebook and Instagram for both my business and personal pages.

Some say bloggers carry ‘un-investigated’ news, do you agree?

I can only speak for myself. Whenever an
‘un-investigated’ news is published on Kemi Filani Blog, we make sure
we indicate that the report is ‘unconfirmed’.

Would you say blogging has had any impact on your life?

Yes it has and in a lot of ways actually. It has given me a voice and a platform to express it.

How do you feel when people abuse you online?

I now feel indifferent. Initially, the
first time I was heavily criticised over a story I broke in 2014, I felt
bad because some of the comments really got to me. However, I have
developed thick skin and I don’t allow such hate comments to get to me
any longer. In life, there will always be critics and there will always
be fans to defend your cause. As one is mindful of the criticisms to
make one grow where necessary, one should also not be carried away with
fans’ applause.

Have you met some of your online fans?

Yes, I have and they are always surprised to see a petite Kemi instead of a fully blown woman they imagined me to be.

Are there comments you cannot post?

Yes. I will definitely not post very sensitive comments that can affect the private lives of those involved in the post.

Do you post about your personal life online?

I like to keep my personal life off social media but I occasionally do, when the need arises.

What has been your most controversial post?

My major controversial post was when I
broke a story on Tiwa Savage and Tunji Balogun’s marital crisis. Many
assumed I was a newbie trying to gain cheap popularity and traffic, but
thank God I have been vindicated now.  I also remember having issues
with Omotola Ekeinde sometime ago after I posted a story on one of her
daughters.

Did the post get you into trouble?

Not really, except that I was issued a
note of warning by Omotola Ekeinde’s lawyer.  The actress wasn’t happy
that the term “hot and sexy’” was used to describe her teenage daughter,
in the story I did. Plus she believed I intruded into her daughter’s
privacy by posting her Instagram photos on my blog, and that wasn’t the
case because her Instagram account was set on ‘public’ and not
‘private’. By the time I eventually took down the post, other bloggers
had copied the story and used the same “hot and sexy” term. It dragged
online for a while and it got a lot of open letters from other bloggers
and entertainment writers especially after she issued a general warning.

Have you made up with Omotola now?

We don’t have any issue.

Did the letter from her lawyer stop you from writing stuff about her?

No way! Whenever there is anything juicy to write about her, I go ahead. It is a free world.

Don’t you feel bad blogging about the private lives of celebs?

The thing is, once you are a celebrity,
your life is no longer private, your fans will always want to read about
you and it is the duty of the media to feed the fans with the
information.   However, the celebrities can have a control over what is
being blogged about them. We only report what we see or hear, so it is
left to them to ground themselves and positively control what they say
and do while still staying true to themselves.

Meanwhile, did you imagine that your blog would be this popular?

I started blogging for the fun of it but
I have always believed that with God nothing is impossible. He has
brought me thus far and He is still taking me to greater heights.

In terms of Naira and Kobo, how much is your blog worth at the moment?

There is no way I can quantify it. It is actually invaluable and priceless.

Do we see you leaving blogging for some other stuff?

I can’t really say. It is just God who determines the future. He alone knows if I would leave blogging for any other thing.

Have you been threatened by anybody you blogged about?

Well, would I call it threat? Anyway, I have received calls and emails a few times from anonymous people.

Would you have wished you are more popular in real life than online?

Well, I don’t think so. I am really not ready yet for all the attention that comes with being popular in real life.

Have you had any reason to block anybody at some point?

I have blocked a few intruders from my social media accounts.

You can read more (playomotola-ekeinde-got-angry-blogging-daughter-kemi-filani/”>HERE)