Skip to content
Headlines

Kenyan Twitter Users Disintegrates into Groups: Is there a Reason to Worry?

BY Soko Directory Team · February 13, 2018 12:02 am

Social media has taken over the world by storm. The train long left the station and those not on board might never catch up.

Social media has been a key element in the day to day lives of most Kenyans. With such tools as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, Kenyan online enthusiasts have been able to interact with each other as well as the articulation of various issues.

Most Kenyans use both Facebook and Twitter to communicate and articulate issues. Of the two, however, Twitter has come out as a tool that is being used to both construct and deconstruct both the mighty and the lowly.

Trade Smarter, Grow Faster with Kingdom Bank Trade Finance

A research done by Sochin Limited revealed that 86 percent of Twitter users in Kenya are concentrated in Nairobi With GeoPoll saying that more than 70 percent of Kenyans consume their news online before confirming it with the mainstream media.

This shows just how important social media, specifically Twitter is important to most Kenyans, not just individuals but groups and organizations as well.

Kenyans on Twitter or KOT as they call themselves have come to be a force to reckon with. By the click of the button through Twitter, Kenyans have been able to bring to the surface various issues affecting the society.

For instance:

      • Kenyans have used Twitter to drive fundraising for individuals who either needed to foot their school fees of medical bills. They have also come together during a calamity to pull resources together. One of the most memorable events that brought Kenyans Together was that of #Kenyans4Kenya which saw Kenyans come together to assist others who had been hit by hunger and drought.

     

        • Kenyans have used Twitter to criticize poor governance, pretense, and mediocrity that has led to poverty and suffering in most parts of the country. Last week, Kenyans were infuriated with the images that were coming from Baringo County of school children spending hours looking for food and water instead of being in class. More than 9 schools had closed down as a result of inadequate water. Baringo is home to Kenya’s longest serving Head of State, Daniel Toroitich Arab Moi who ruled the country for 24 years.

        • Kenyans have used Twitter to expose some of the highest corruption cases in Kenya. Twitter has also been used to call for the prosecution and resignation of the culprits. The NYS scandal as well as the saga surrounding the famous Eurobond, as some of the cases that have been determined in the ‘High Court of Twitter’ in Kenya. It was pressure from Twitter users in Kenya that forced the then Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and currently the County Governor of Kirinyaga, Anne Waiguru to step down.