Social Media is all about having fun while communicating…spare a minute and watch this interesting video about social media. Hope you like and share it.
Social media in Kenya dates back to days when the only online interactive platform was Graduates.com, which would reconnect former schoolmates. Locally, a number of interactive platforms that mostly targeted Kenyans were developed and they included the likes of Mashada, Kenyanlist and Mchongoano. These have since become ghost towns thanks to the penetration of Facebook and twitter, with the latter slowly becoming a fancy of the many. FourSquare also seems to gain membership locally.
Social Media combines both the media aspect of communication (photos, videos and news) from one person to the other online. It has changed the way we relate to one another and somehow made life easier, from someone who wants to sell his old car to someone who wants to meet a soul-mate. Locally, twitter and Facebook take the cream of the platforms used by Kenyans to interact. Other platforms that are popular locally range from blogs, WordPress, Google Buzz, tumblr, Flickr and Picasa.
There has been a dispute about the number of Kenyans on Facebook although some say it’s hitting the 1 million mark. It’s penetration in the Kenyan market started growing in the year 2008. Kenyans who had already signed up valued their privacy and wouldn’t even share a profile photo. Today it has become a household name and everyone is on board, from those in the corporate sector to politicians.
There has been a migration of Kenyans who prefer twitter to Facebook. A joke is always doing rounds that Facebook has friends you went to school with but twitter has the friends one wishes he went to school with. Twitter is fast, trendy and funny. Any breaking news is always on the timeline and one doesn’t need to wait for the approval of a friend request (only on cases when some people have protected their tweets). Kenyans on twitter have been known to be a creative lot when it comes to hearty trending topics for example #KCPE2010 #Makmende #Rutoplaylist among others.
Growth of technological hubs like iHub, Mlabs and Nailab have provided Kenyans with an opportunity to develop applications that can be merged together with social media.
Social media remains a powerful tool and has been listed on the watch list by the authorities who want to curb hate speech and tribalism. People have now and then been reminded to use social media positively despite the growing cases on infidelity, stalking and hacking.
As we celebrate the Mashable Social Media day, let us share stories. How has social media changed the way we relate to one another? How has it improved your life? What are the challenges we face? How do you use it?
For updates from Kenya on #SMDayKe click here.
Below are interesting reads on social media in Kenya.
- Daily Nation: Facebook and twitter
- The Standard: twitter and Facebook
- Business Daily: Facebook and twitter
- Twitter delivers a miracle for family in need:
- CJ Willy Mutunga joins Twitter
- Kenya’s Viral Sensation (Makmende) On CNN
