Football, Valentine’s Day quotes and Caroline Mwatha among the Trending searches in February 2019

Google has released the top trending searches for the month of February 2019 with quotes about Valentine’s Day and football carrying the day.

Kenyans are ardent football fans, therefore unsurprisingly, English Football League fixtures such as Chelsea vs. Manchester City, Manchester United vs. PSG among others dominated the list of sporting matches searched by Kenyans in February.

The third most searched item was Tetema, the latest song by Tanzanian Bongo stars, Diamond Platnumz, and Rayvanny. The song was released on the 6th of February and has already garnered over 7 million views on YouTube. In 2018, Diamond’s song, Kwangwaru featured in the list of most viewed music videos in Kenya, in YouTube Rewind, the annual review of the most popular moments, videos and creators on YouTube.

Valentine’s Day quotes were the fourth most popular search item. In the ‘month of love,’ as February is known, Kenyans went online to find popular Valentine’s Day related sayings.

Many Kenyans also searched for news around the Europa League making it the fifth most searched item. The UEFA Europa League is one of Kenyans’ most-watched football tournaments.

Caroline Mwatha, the slain human rights activist and founder of the Dandora Community Justice Center was the sixth trending item on Google. This came after the activist was reported missing and later found dead.

Kenyan Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) was the seventh most searched item, as Kenyans went on Google to determine the deadline for 2019/2020 university placements.

Eighth on the list was Mildred Odira, the slain switchboard operator with Foresight Company but stationed at Nation Centre, who was found murdered after she had gone missing for a week.

• ALSO READ:  NMG’s Missing Employee, Mildred Odira, Found Dead at City Mortuary

In ninth position was the Public Service Commission’s online platform, www.publicservice.go.ke, which provides an overview of available jobs and internships in public service.

Closing the list of top ten trending searches in February was Karl Lagerfeld, the late creative director of the French fashion house, Chanel, who passed away on the 19th of February.  He was also the creative director of the Italian fashion house, Fendi. He was recognized for his signature white hair and black sunglasses look.

In Top How to’ category, the top trending search was, How to check CRB status, This month, the Urban Landlords and Tenants Association of Kenya announced its intention to petition the Central Bank of Kenya to have rent defaulters listed with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).

• ALSO READ:  Are You Among the 500,000 Kenyans Blacklisted on the CRB? Here’s How to Check Your Status
• ALSO READ: Landlords Move to Have Rent Defaulters Blacklisted by CRB

The second most trending search item was (as is the case every year), How to lose weight followed by How to pay Tala loan in third place. Tala Loan App offers unsecured instant mobile loans and was formerly known as Mkopo Rahisi. In fourth place was a search on How to pay NHIF via M-Pesa.

In sixth place, was a recurring search on How to make pancakes. Interestingly, in the culinary category, Kenyans have looked to Google for information on how to cook pancakes over the past few years.

The sixth trending search item was, How to hack a phone, which is indicative of the increasing conversations on cybersecurity for individuals and businesses.

Kenyans went online to search How to cook mandazi, which featured on the list in seventh place. Other recurring searches how to searches include, How to create a website and How to cook spaghetti in eighth and ninth place, respectively.

Finally, How to check the M-Pesa statement was the tenth most searched item in February. That this is a recurring search item points to the ubiquity of mobile money in Kenyans’ day to day living experiences.

Google Search Trends is a publicly available tool that indicates search patterns over a period of time and shows the clusters of searches that made it to the weekly trending searches in the country. Below are the top trending searches for the month:

Top Trending Searches

1. Chelsea vs. Manchester United
2. Manchester United vs. PSG
3. Tetema by Diamond
4. Valentine’s Day quotes
5. Europa League
6. Caroline Mwatha
7. Kenya Universities Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS)
8. Mildred Odira
9. publicservice.go.ke
10. Karl Lagerfeld

Top How to Searches

1. How to check CRB status
2. How to lose weight
3. How to pay Tala loan
4. How to pay NHIF via M-Pesa
5. How to make pancakes
6. How to hack a phone
7. How to cook mandazi
8. How to create a website
9. How to make spaghetti
10. How to get M-Pesa statement

• ALSO READ: Betting and Porn Sites Dominate Kenya’s Most Visited Websites