It is the epitome of fantasy and reality brought together in one humorous, hair-raising unit. Hayibo.com is a South African news satire website which publishes satirical international, national and local stories every day.
It is the epitome of fantasy and reality brought together in one humorous, hair-raising unit. Hayibo.com is a South African news satire website which publishes satirical international, national and local stories every day.
The website takes real news stories, adds a pinch of salt and breaks them into “tiny little pieces”. Hayibo’s news stories are based on everyday events which they present as newsworthy stories. The articles are structured so well that one could be fooled into thinking that they are real news stories.
Hayibo was started by a group of witty, talented writers in 2008 and according to Hayibo’s Anthony Pascoe, the site started with just over 2 000 users in its first month. “We thought we were bossing the world. Now we get more than 2 000 a day. On average we have grown 20% a month since launch.
Our best month saw us crack 100 000 unique users.” He added: “When we launched, our primary aim was to make people laugh. We wanted Hayibo to be something that people could chuckle over while having their first cup of coffee in the morning.
Obviously if we got people to think about issues or to ask questions that was an added bonus. “We didn’t research it, we just wanted to do it and we had the right mix of editorial, technical and commercial skills amongst ourselves to make it fly.
Things have changed a bit since January 2008,
but the basic premise of wanting to make people laugh has remained the same.” Author and former Mail & Guardian columnist, Tom Eaton is one of the writers who provides “insightful, funny and witty made-up news” to the world.
Some of the best articles they have published include: More lies as Carl Niehaus admits he is a divorced mother of four; Malema to be protected after near-fatal exposure to IQ test; Shaik survives first night at home, but terminal condition worsens; Albino journalist heartbroken after exclusion from blacks only forum and Soaring food prices hurt world’s poor, really hurt world’s fat.
“Our biggest ever story was Saudi scientists disprove the existence of the vagina. It went viral in the USA and was a smash hit for us,” said Pascoe. To access Hayibo go to www.hayibo.com.
