In light of all the hyperbole currently surrounding the Internet micro-blogging wunderkind twitter, I decided to do some research to see just how well the micro-blogging service is doing in Kenya. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised and a little disappointed at the same time. I managed to locate the Top 100 Twitterers in Kenya (as of this posting) via twitterholic at this link for Nairobi, Kenya. The truth is that the twitterholic listing is out of date by a month or two from what I can tell and is mostly centered on Nairobi – but its the only comprehensive Kenya specific ranking that I could find online.

The top 100 @kenya twitter listing is largely dominated by bloggers with @kahenya currently occupying the top spot with 1,731 followers and closely followed in second position by @paulakahumbu with 1,730 followers. The gap between number 2 and 3 is significant with @intelligensia having 450 followers. I was surprised to learn that yours truly @moseskemibaro cracked the top ten at number 9 with 311 followers!

Further down the list, it was interesting to note the Kenyan brands that had created Twitter profiles and had some followers. @wildlifedirect had the largest following of 314. The next brand is @kenyaairways who we’re ranked at 28 with 89 followers, a number I expect to grow massively if they invest in creating more visibility for their twitter profile. The interesting thing is that @kenyaairways have a very active twitter profile that is promoting their offerings and also providing a channel for interaction with their customers. Clearly, Kenya Airways is a authentic Kenyan brand that is really “getting” new media.

Further down the list for companies, my company @dotsavvy is ranked at 34 with 69 followers – not bad considering we only set-up a twitter profile around two months ago with very limited marketing so far. In position 45 and with 45 followers is @theeastafrican, the twitter profile for The East African Newspaper. Their profile has been conspicuously silent of tweets since January 2009 which is strange since they are a leading weekly newspaper!

Next up at position 61 with 26 followers is @theinsyder, a well established Kenyan tweens magazine – I expect them to really grow if they invest lots in building up their followers since their market is mostly Kenyan youth. @ntvkenya is the twitter profile for NTV which is one of Kenya’s largest television channels is positioned a lowly 91 with only 4 followers!

I’m thinking that the twitterholic list for Kenya may not be very up to date since I just found out that @984capitalfm and @easyfm96 are having a faux challenge of sorts to see which of the popular radio stations can reach 1000 followers in the shortest time possible. As of this posting, @984capital is ahead with 92 followers so far and @easyfm96 has only 9 followers. However, in a nutshell, its great to see that Kenyan brands are getting twittered!