KENNY SIA, 26
BY JOYCE WONG

Kenny Sia. His name is so well-known, even senior Malaysians who don’t read blogs know of him. Breaking into the blogosphere in 2005, Kenny shot to celeb blog stardom when he poked fun at infamous Singaporean blogger Xiaxue. Luckily for him, she found it hilarious, linked him and the result was kennysia.com became one of the most regularly clicked bookmarks in a matter of months.

But this wasn’t your typical case of spiking in traffic then being forgotten. Kenny’s sarcastic sense of humour and his ability to take witty jabs at himself and others warmed him to his readers, and his hits increased steadily to the daily 17,000 he gets today. That’s over a whopping 13 million hits since he first started his blog! Unintentionally, he concocted the perfect potion of what makes a great blog post with his unique style of taking the mickey out of general subjects, often food, travel, politicians, sex, and lifestyle brands.

When the blog advertising industry took off the past year, it was no surprise that Kenny became the most expensive blogger, commanding the highest rates in Malaysia for advertorials. PR and media agencies sat up, inviting him all over the region for events and demands for consultancy. Who would have thought that by blogging, one would one day be asked to appear on a TV commercial shot in Bangkok (Mr. Potato) and judge a national reality TV show (Malaysian Dreamgirl) alongside former Miss Malaysia Elaine Daly?

Imagine having to deal with fans clamouring to get their pictures taken with you, PR companies begging you to attend their events, brands throwing free products, and sex scandals being spread on the blogosphere—all amidst juggling your commitment to a family business. Kenny sure has a lot on his plate right now.

Undoubtedly it won’t stop there. But what cyber viciousness won’t kill him, will only make him stronger, as Kenny Sia goes on to prove that his heart and head is still in the right frame of mind as he continues to break the barriers of new media in Malaysia.

Joyce Wong aka KinkyBlueFairy (www.kinkybluefairy.net) has been blogging for four years and has almost 2,000 friends on Facebook. One of them is Kenny Sia. She is the managing editor of Tongue in Chic (www.tonguechic.com).