The South African online space is maturing, regardless of what some may say. There have been claims that it is a bunch of white boys who only link to each other; there are also claims that the South African blogosphere is attracting new blood. This should make for many more interesting blogs in 2009, many of which would be written from cellphones. Sebastian Küpers analysed our community earlier in 2008 and he made many positive comments.

And Amatomu, the local blogging aggregator, could succeed in making us believe that South Africans are only “or mostly?“ interested in rugby: Keo and Rugby Dump are two of the most popular blogs on Amatomu.

But what is a blog? Wikipedia says that ‘A blog (a contraction of the term ‘Web log’) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.’

This list, like all such lists, is subjective and should be taken with a pinch of salt. We would also like to know whom you would nominate. Feel free to discuss your own list in the comments section.
So who are the 8 top South African bloggers?

  • Tertia has been dominating the space for many years: she started blogging in 2004 when not that many of us even knew what a blog is. She started blogging about infertility but later started writing about blogging and even won the Best Personal Blog for 2008.
  • Shaun has been blogging since March 2006 and writes about almost anything.  His blog posts are always funny and they sometimes contain a dash of humbleness.  He got nominated for the 2008 Bloggies and has been accused of looking like Seth Rotherman.
  • Peas on toast: This lady has received many awards, most notably among them the2008 Blog Awards for Most Original Writing and Best Post (How Not To Buy Condoms). She’s been blogging since 2005 and has kept us (me?) laughing with posts such as How to make a complaint.
  • Nic is the guy behind SA Rocks and his passion for South Africa is infectious. He started the blog in January 2007 and it has become one of the must-read SA blogs.  Can anyone argue with what Nic says here in his first post: ‘I am not saying our country is perfect, no country is, but I am saying that there is a lot more good in SA than people like to admit.’ His blog was a runner up in the 2008 Blog Awards and asks questions such as ‘Does marching really matter?‘
  • How many other South African bloggers have an entry on Wikipedia? Vincent Maher is a blogger-cum-Thought Leader-cum-entrepreneur.
  • Adii is one of the true rockstars. He even says so on his blog. He gets regular mentions on international blogs such as ReadWriteWeb and is a genuinely nice oke, too. He also started blogging in the beginning of 2007 and has been blogging about “Web 2.0, Designing, Wordpress and Business Strategy”.
  • Rafiq has been involved with Web AddiCT(s) as well as iDrive. He’s been blogging since 2005 and has become one of the Thought Leaders whom Carte Blance featured in their Web 2.0 segment, which attracted much notice among the South African bloggers.