Kenya’s brands @twitter!
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 The truth is that the twitterholic listing is out of date by a month or two from what I can tell and is mostly centered on Nairobi – but its the only comprehensive Kenya specific ranking that I could find online.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!
9 Comments
Nice post Moses…
Kumbe !! EasyFM seems to be dead
KQ page is too flashy !! Feel like I am going to vomit
And often forgotten, Twitter Search is a great tool to track keywords. Just add this to your reader – http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?lang=en&q=+Kenya – or visit Twitter Search if it is working 🙂
TheBigBoss
Am glad people are realising there are sites other than facebook. I do believe twitter is a better marketing tool than facebook. personally i have a twitter account for the business.
I’d hoped there would be more corporate blogging in kenya by now; at least twitter’s a (still under-utilized) start
Nice list. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, arguably, there aren’t enough Kenyans on Twitter for any business to sink too much time/resources into it yet. However, individuals can and should.
Check your link for Paula Kahumbu though, I think you spelled it wrong.
Number 1 for Kenya is a ranger in the Masai Mara:
Kimojino with 2,797 followers!
http://www.twitter.com/maratriangle
Interesting .. so cool to find some Kenyan corporates out there!
Great post! I’m trying to track groups that use Twitter to expand their brand visibility. It’s an exercise in frustration. I’m thinking a broad search by location – thanks Peperuka! (which BTW shows that Morris Gitonga has a phenomenal 20,876 followers) is a start but the real difficulty is in getting bloggers who may have their location outside Kenya (e.g. Kenyan Pundit who I think is great) but has Jo’burg, Nairobi listed so this will not show up. The other problem is separating those who use Twitter for personal use and those who use it as a marketing exercise. Trudging along.
Let’s have an update of the Top Tweeps!
@jack. Yes. Indeed. Time for an update – so much has changed.