Upon gaining Independence last year on July 9th, the blogging trends of South Sudanese have become far too important to ignore, with many taking to the virtual web with regular reports and information relating to the country. Their presence on the virtual web has become a force to be reckoned with. It is probably why social media is still considered a threat to the regime as bloggers are influencing South Sudan’s narrative to the media. And while South Sudan regime has not lived up to their expectations, with soaring inflation, high military spending, rampant law and order, corruption and mismanagement, South Sudanese bloggers have been hitting back by documenting  ground realities to provoke, educate and inform people about what is happening in the country. Those who live outside of the region and having little knowledge on what is happening read these blogs because they are curious to know about the new country’s state of affairs. As with countries where state owned media and private media groups are usually biased in the way they present news, South Sudanese have resorted to citizen journalism as an alternative to news reporting. However, citizen journalism like in other countries comes at a high risk and South Sudanese bloggers continuously put themselves at risk with the authorities by reporting on human rights violation, poor governance and giving voice to the victims of oppression.

South Sudan Flag

So why do we need to pay attention to South Sudanese bloggers? The South Sudanese are fast growing up in the digital world, where they have all the necessary tools of social media to empower themselves with and to amplify their voices in the socio-political realms. Last month South Sudan had joined the world of TEDx by hosting its first ever UNICEF sponsored TEDx Conference in Juba, with a theme of ‘New Nation, New Ideas’. It was a perfect platform to network and collaborate with people who wanted to foster an exchange of ideas and skills with one another. TEDxJuba’s success had showed South Sudanese peoples’ (young people, women and children) willingness to start a dialogue on nation-building and overcoming new country’s struggles. In the world of TEDx, it is considered important to lend our ears to voices that are telling us important stories and informing us of changing dynamics happening around them. South Sudanese have important stories to tell and it is all the more necessary for us to sit up and pay attention to them. The blogging trends of South Sudanese suggest these voices have bright ideas, strong opinions and are most willing towards a positive social change in their new country.