F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
Kenyan Twitter from A to Z: everything you need to know about ‘Kitter’
Last year the newly launched Nendo Ventures release its report on the Kenyan social media landscape. The report highlighted 15 key trends that is shaping and informing the Kenyan social media landscape. It also provided some insights into how Kenyans behave on social and their consumption patterns.
The team is now taking a step further with its latest report unpacking Kenyan Twitter (Kitter) by alphabetising it. The report — which has just been released — is part of a series the company is releasing on the African Twitter landscape. Kenyan Twitter A to Z is the first of four, which includes Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa.
“Nendo Ventures created The A-to-Z of African Twitter in June 2014. Brought about by a Pan African market
need for depth and understanding of African digital society and culture,” writes the company.
The idea is for the creators to explore the social media, specifically Twitter, of the continent and create a chronicle of it. This particular report looks at what Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) have been discussing in the last year and the key phrases or words that stand out in the Kitter lexicon.
The team has put together an in-depth online offering to explain the process and the choice of words, with YouTube videos, podcasts and illustrations.
“The A-to-Z format highlights moments of context and insight amidst the torrential stream of news, updates and content generated by the connected African continent,” explains Nendo Ventures.
Here are some of our favourite words or phrases that defined Kitter in the last few months:
A is for Aromat — Kenyans turn a campaign around the popular spice into a humourous hashtag. #ButWithAromat was cleverly used by KOT to show how the condiment was “transformative in unimaginable ways”.
B is for Bigwig — this term is often used by KOT to describe “self-proclaimed or mockingly used to refer to influential Twitter personalities in Kenya”.
Some phrases where less humour more serious.
D is for #DeadbeatKenyan — this phrase apparently stemmed from a Facebook group. Dead Beat Kenya is a movement that featured negligent fathers and mothers and the stories of those left behind.
F is Feminism — gender issues are getting more an more attention on the continent. It seems in Kenya the new ‘F’ word is Feminism, in Kenya is one that will guarantee reactions from Kenyans on Twitter
I is for ICC — Kenyans on Twitter seem to have spent glued to the news relating to The International Criminal Court and the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. So much so that one of the judges leading the case had to issue a public warning to those guessing one of the protected witnesses related to the case.
W is for Westgate — Nairobi’s Westgate Mall attack in September 2013 plunged the country into a dark moment in history with the siege, shooting and terror that gripped the country. Twitter managed to capture the country’s collaborative spirit and became the number 1 informer.
Q is for Quail farming — The country experienced a quail bubble. Kenya was taken by storm following a craze around quail farming. The fad — voiced by social media — saw Kenyans invest millions of shillings expecting great returns in a perceived scarcity.
You can download the full report here or take a listen to our podcast with the creator of the report.
