With over 3000 members, “Nelo’s Late Night Forum” is arguably Swaziland’s most popular social networking forum. Clearly, people love talking about sex, love and relationships because there’s never a dull moment on this forum and there’s always at least 10 comments per minute – that’s just how active the members are. However, be warned…SNL18 is the order of the day and the language can affect sensitive people.
What caught my attention though was the fact that regardless of some of the vulgar (well, REAL if you ask me) statuses posted here, members, who affectionately refer to each other as "Manelos" most often discuss real issues with utmost honesty.
If I were a decision-maker in an HIV-awareness organization, I would definitely back this forum and milk it to my advantage.
Well, I managed to track down the brains behind “Nelo’s Late Night Forum” and this is how our conversation flowed, UNEDITED!
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| Sibonelo Mamba - Founder of Nelo's Late Night Forum |
Where did the idea of the forum come from?
It’s funny because it all started when I went through marital problems which resulted in a separation between my wife and I. It was during that time when I joined Facebook and as a media person I got to realize how Facebook was a powerful communication tool that was soon to make me an addict and kept me from being bored.
During this time I had sleepless night but I would remain awake till early hours of the morning communicating with friends. As a television creative I then came up with the idea to start the forum using my status update as a platform for discussions and I posted the issue of the day everyday at 10:30 PM hence the “Late Night” and “Nelo” is derived from my name SiboNELO. Topics that I posted were based on either Love, Relationships and Sex of course.
I see it's been going on for two years already - and the response is overwhelming, how have people outside the forum reacted towards it.
Actually Nelo’s Late Night Forum was started in 2008 so its 3 years. It’s just that two years ago with the help of Mfundo “Khux” Dlamini we decided to create a Facebook page for the group so as to be able to reach a wider audience and members could also invite their friends to be members as well mainly because prior to this it was only limited to people that where my FB friends.
When the group page was formed it was and still is under the administration of “Khux”, Sthie Mtsetfwa and myself. The advantages of the group page also enables people to be able to post their topics or issues for discussion as well, so all members can post an issue unlike when I started I was the only one posting issues.
People love the forum so much and when I look at it today I must say that I’m proud of what I did and grateful to the people that have been supportive to the idea. I get a lot of feedback from people and suggestions of how to develop it even further.
What Kind Of People Are Attracted To The Forum?
Hahahaha this one is a tough one really but firstly obviously our audience are Facebookers and from what I have seen they come from all walks of life really.
You are a Television Producer; so sex, love, relationships? What's the interest vele?
My life experiences on issues of Relationships which obviously included Love, sex and more (Please note we say more cause there are other issues in Relationship’s such as issues of finance and others can also be discussed including issues of HIV/AIDS).
These issues affect our daily lives and we need a platform where we can share ideas and address them. Look around and see the damaging impact these issues have in our society there is rape, abuse, murders, divorce, orphans and suicides.
These are some of the reasons that inspired me and as a media person, SBIS has Khalamdumbadumbane doing the same and mine was to use the new media platform to do the same and I chose Facebook.
Do you sometimes have face to face meetings with forum members?
Formal meetings, NO but informal YES. I have actually met some of the members face to face and some recognize and stop me on the street.
What are the future plans for the forum?
I like this one really, Yes I do have future plans for the forum because our main aim is to educate, discuss and share with people.
It would be great to have a “Nelo’s Late Night Forum” Television show or a radio show as well and that would allow for a wider audience but the challenge to this is obviously being Swazi and somehow Swazis from my point of view are still shy to talk openly about these issues. So, hosting a show that has an age restriction of 18 years would really cause a stir in the country or on that particular medium. So on future plans all I can say is WATCH THE SPACE.
Have you ever thought of collaborating with hiv awareness organizations?
I will be short and brief on this one and the answer is YES and I’m working on it.
About Sibonelo
Sibonelo Mamba was born on the 7th December in the late 70s and went to Sidney Williams Primary and completed High School at Manzini Nazarene in 1996. He started his television career with Channel S in 2002 as a News Reader and Transmission Controller. In 2003 he joined Swazi TV as Transmission Controller and today he is a Transmission Producer. His vast knowledge in Television has made him an all rounder as he completely understands the TV industry.
In my view, this is one guy to watch!
Find Nelo's Late Night Forum on Facebook and tell us what you think about it! *wink*
Add your comments below!
Find Nelo's Late Night Forum on Facebook and tell us what you think about it! *wink*
Add your comments below!
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