http://www.techcabal.com/big-question-if-nairaland-is-nigerias-tumblr-why-hasnt-it-been-acquired-yet/

Million Dollar Question – If Nairaland Is Nigeria’s Tumblr, Why Hasn’t It Been Acquired Yet?
BY BANKOLE OLUWAFEMI / 25 RESPONSES
The internet has seen some big acquistions. YouTube. Instagram. Tumblr is hot shit right now because Yahoo! just dropped 1.1 Billion cool ones for it.


What do all these platforms have in common. They are crazy UGC (user generated content) machines — websites that people habitually submit content to. In Yahoo!’s official release, Tumblr was said to have see 900 posts per second, and 24 billion minutes spent onsite each month. By the time you’re done reading this post, there’ll be more than 162,000 new posts on Tumblr. Evidently, if you can crack UGC, you’re likely to get a payday eventually.

While nowhere close to those amazing numbers, the only UGC platform that seems to be doing anything similar in Nigeria…Africa even…is Seun Osewa’s Nairaland. Last we heard, the site was doing 12 million pageviews a month, and if Alexa is your thing, we know that Nairaland is the most visited African website.

So why hasn’t anyone tried to acquire Nairaland yet? From what I’ve heard, it isn’t for lack of trying. And not with meagre sums either. A million dollars from MIH to get their mits on Nairalist data. Google overtures, spurned. There’s lots of speculation, lore and legend around failed Nairaland/Nairalist sale talks, and the reason why Seun doesn’t sell.

If you know any stories, pray tell.

It’s not like selling is the only logical destination for Nairaland, so that’s not the issue. It’s just that there doesn’t seem to be a long term agenda for the platform. None that is obvious at least.

The other day someone was lamenting to me about how Seun is basically being a weist where Nairaland is concerned, and not even scratching the surface of its potential — which to him means selling the platform, or the data at least. He was so angry, I thought I was Seun for a minute. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Users elsewhere will thank you for giving them a free service, not mining their data and most importantly, not selling out. But here was someone who was actually angry that his data was being “locked up” on Nairaland, and not being exploited like it rightfully should. Wonders.

Everyone knows that Nairaland could be more than it is right now. People just can’t say how. They just say stuff like “it could look better”, “there could be an API”, “he could spin a hundred different services off it”…

Yada, yada. Seun doesn’t care. Not about selling, and certainly not about extending the site in any way. Did you say API? That’s taboo where Nairaland is concerned. Pystar tried to make an unofficial one and got banned for his trouble.

So what does Seun plan to do with Nairaland eventually…asides from herding disgruntled webmasters and pawning advertising pixels, that is?

Maybe someday, he’ll share. Maybe today, if he reads this.

What a write up!!!

He can do whatever he want with the site. it belong to him.

or do you have interest in buying it ?

There are some interesting comments on the site too which is worth reading too

Onyeka A. • 2 months ago −
Nairaland baffles me for a ton of reasons (especially the appeal, considering the inanity of a lot of the content). But mostly I think Seun is resistant to criticism and change, two things that would happen a lot if someone else was at the helm. And also there's that air of 'lack of ambition' that the site (or Seun) suffers from. Even the ads could be better done and placed. For something with so many hits and so many users, little is done to improve the user experience beyond making it look like a mobile site (regardless of the platform you're on). It lacks a ton of functionality, the layout is unimpressive, and other issues. I tried to communicate something about this to Seun a long time ago and was replied with rudeness and condescension.

I don't think however, that he needs to sell. I'm not sure why that's what many startups aim for so much these days. But if he doesn't have any plans to make the site greater or better, perhaps it would be good to give the site to someone who would do so.

Onyeka A. (replying to seunosewa) • 2 months ago −
Sigh, my comment disappeared.

Well, regarding your first comment, good to know.

Regarding your site, no-one's discounting your success. It's the success that makes people concerned enough to comment on where it's going. Such is life. I think it's working with two things.

1. Early adoption.

2. Large user base.

One could compare it to say, Microsoft, really. The trouble with MS is that it got too comfortable, and is now dealing with companies like Google (who also, could have chosen to stay with just their search, but you know, expanded) and Apple. And losing. Sure, MS will always be the biggest in sales for the two reasons above, but go on any tech blog and see how people roll their eyes at them now. In places like the US, many people now use MS because they have to, but they'd RATHER be using something else. Perceptions matter.

I'm of the belief that we should always be striving to improve ourselves, especially in the tech industry, where new methods and products are being churned out daily. Sites of 2 years ago look dated now, how much so sites that have looked and acted the same for 6 or 7. Perhaps I'm just projecting my own quirks on you; I'm always tweaking my own personal projects.

I stand by my ambition angle because it doesn't quite reflect on the site. No-one needs it to be perfect. Some of my most favourite sites have things that bug me. I LOVE The Verge, but it also drives me crazy that the comments mess up on my phone. However, I don't give them so much grief because I know and see that they have a team that is constantly working on new features and improvements.

You changed the software a while ago and if possible it became a more stripped down version of what it previously was. Off the top of my head, throwing in a fuller featured homepage, richer profiles, gamification, better quality ads (they already bypass my Adblock so kudos I guess), a layout that works better on multiple platforms, a layout that's ... current/interesting would take nothing from the original formula but I'm sure would better the experience.

I haven't posted anything there in years, but like Bankole suggests, we are saying these things because we do care about seeing local success that can stand among its peers elsewhere.

Forget selling. I don't think it's necessary like I stated earlier. The word a while ago was that you worked alone, not sure if that's the case now. But perhaps you could try getting an extra mind or two that can see the whole with fresh eyes and offer improvements?

Or don't, you know? *shrug*

AMAZING NEW DISCOVERY! HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET PAID FOR CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY & ACTIVELY IMPACTING LIVES IN A HIGH TRAFFIC FORUM LIKE THIS ONE? AND GUESS WHO PAYS YOU MONTHLY CHECKS FOR DOING THIS…GOOGLE HERSELF! YOU WILL GET PAID THROUGH HER ADSENSE PROGRAMME…YOU DON’T EVEN NEED A WEBSITE TO BE EARNING DAILY VIA GOOGLE ADSENSE!!
WANT TO FIND OUT HOW? TEXT “INTERESTED” TO 08035451250 FOR MORE DETAILS.

Truth is Nairaland is on a platform called SMF(Simple Machine Forum).
So if 1 expects to see great change when he wakes up is almost impossible.
You can easily modify a site or software you develop yourself.
But modifying som1else's script would be throwin so many errors.

TALK IS CHEAP!!!

,.