Keeping UP With #KOT: New Portland Analysis

Nairobi was recorded as the most active city in East Africa and the sixth most active on the continent, with 123,078 tweets.

Kenyan’s ardor for Twitter can be summed up in one word, albeit abbreviated; #KOT. Twitter storms have swept Kenya and its socio-political scene which is just one reason almost all facets of government institutions and commercial corporations dove into this social media with fervor that Facebook can only dream about. Twitter has become a personal movement where every voice is heard, even if only in 140 characters. Global information trackers, Portland recently released their analysis on geo-located tweets on how Africa used Twitter in the final three months of 2013 and KOT definitely has its presence noted in the social media site.

In the report, English was found to be the most common language and together with French and Arabic accounts for 75.5% of total tweets. Swahili featured as one of the next more commonly tweeted languages. Not surprisingly, football is the most discussed topic on Twitter in Africa. However, the African twitterati do not lack consciousness of more serious matters. Concerning issues of continental proportions the highest volume of tweets in the entire continent registered was on December 5, the day of Nelson Mandela’s death.

Interestingly, Tuesdays and Fridays are the most active tweeting days on the continent. Twitter activity rises steadily through the afternoon and evening, with peak volumes around 10:00 p.m. Out of the whole of Africa, there were four particularly active hashtags tracked including #KenyaAt50 – celebration of Kenya’s independence – and the competing #SickAt50, contradicting the optimism of the former. The analysis also showed that brands in Africa are becoming increasingly prevalent on Twitter in Africa. Portland tracked major hashtag activity from top brands such as Samsung (#SamsungLove), Adidas (#Adidas) and Magnum ice cream (#MagnumAuction).

By Amal Mohamed