Last year, Pulse brought you story of how Facebook had been gradually shaping and tilting the local showbiz landscape. Yet another fad is claiming its fiefdom among the Pulsers, writes MATLIDA NZIOKI

Step aside Facebook; there is a new kid in town. Twitter is increasingly becoming a hit amongst celebs, hip politicians, journalists and urban youth. This new phenomenon has been catching up as the new gisty craze. It comes complete with its own jargon. Posts on Twitter are not just posts and guys on twitter well…are not just posters.

Owned and operated by Twitter Inc, Twitter offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages usually referred to as tweets. It was created in March 2006 and launched in July of the same year Jack Dorsey.

The two most visited social networks in Kenya are Facebook and Twitter but Facebook still leads by far in terms of users.

According to a report released in October last year by KenyaTweets.com that has been tracking Kenyans on Twitter, there are nearly 10,000 Twitter accounts in Kenya. That is way below the over half a million on Facebook according to a Synovate report released last year.

One of the reasons for Twitter’s poor showing is that most Pulsers sign up for Twitter, post one tweet and then loose interest after registration, leaving their accounts dormant.

Facebook vs Twitter

"I think I compare it to Facebook, I wait for people to comment or react to my status which never happens so I lose interest," says Annie, a former short-lived tweep (person on Twitter).

This is because, for someone to react to your update they have to be following you and not you following them.

According to kenyatweets.com founded by Mugendi Nguru, Kenyans follow more than they are followed and usually celebs get the lion’s share of followers. Singer Mariah Carey has 3,777,340 followers and only follows a mere 45 people. This means, she only sees 45 people’s updates and over 3 million see her updates.

Another irregular user’s reason for going slow on Twitter is due to its lack of the flair of features such as groups and photo albums.

A good number of Kenyan tweeps view themselves as being ‘on top’ of the rest of the web users especially Facebookers. Numerous debates have sprung as to which is hot between the two.

Tweeps (who also have Facebook accounts that come second to their Twitter in terms of the time they dedicate to each) view facebookers as the ‘shady’ lot. The tweeps view Facebook as an online dwelling place. Some even go farther and lambast Facebook as Mukuru kwa Zuckerberg, aptly referred to after the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The tweeps also hate how Facebookers jump on their trending topics long after those trending topics have lost touch on Twitter.

Twitter Trends

Speaking of trends—current topics on Twitter— the one thing that Kenyans on Twitter will tell you they enjoy most about it is when there is a trending topic that they can contribute to and read what other tweeps have posted about that particular topic. And boy, aren’t Kenyans creative and they can also hate!

The tweeps amuse themselves with these topics, at the same time exploiting their creativity. Trending topics cover just about anything. It could be on current affairs or something that originates from Twitter itself.

It is worthwhile to note that Makmende made it to international press thanks to trending on Twitter.

When a topic is trending, one puts a hash sign followed by the topic after posting their comment. This way when any user clicks on the hash tag, they will see all what has been posted about that topic.

Here are some examples of topics that have been trending recently:

1 #monotasks (this one was trending as form ones were just getting admitted to secondary school)

#monotasks (Form 4 sleeping) mono nisomee hiyo book physics chapter zote na nisifail exam kesho (by user Nyaga Mugo)

#monotasks panda huu mti, hang kama matunda halafu ukiiva anguka

#monotasks ‘mono hebu chora map wapi mnaishi.’ Mono draws. ‘Unaishi hapo?’ ‘eeh.’ ‘hebu ingia home uniletee chapo (both by user Joram Mwinamo)

2. #rutoplaylist (this were songs that were joked to be enjoyed by Mr. Ruto, when he had travelled to The Hague) they included Sitishiki by Wahu, Wasn’t Me by Shaggy, Snitch by akon and the list was endless. Capital FM went ahead to play the songs the following day on the breakfast show.

3. #dearkaz (this became a trending topic when musician Kaz posted on her Twitter account a link to the website where she has various rewards like getting a peck from her, for those who would contribute to her 30 000 USD fund to go and study abroad. She became the victim of merciless Kenyan tweeps who got into dissing her under the trending hashtag DearKaz. Some mean tweets included:

"#DearKaz go to the US and work seven jobs like your fellow diaspora Kenyans" and "#DearKaz G4s are looking for new drivers." (by user Joe Muchiri)

Kaz displayed some blondness by mistaking her being a trending topic for support and posted: "#DearKaz is trending on twitter. Thanks for the support. Keep it coming!" This only multiplied the mockery towards her.

There have been many other trending topics like KCPE questions and some singers’ alleged poor grammar. Pulse has noted that even though celebs and public personalities are the most active on Twitter, they normally steer clear of topics that involve bashing and dissing. It’s commendable that most of them realize that whatever you say online lives forever, sometimes in infamy.

Active users include @KoinangeJeff who got 800 followers in the first day of signing up, @Martha_W_Karua who is ever active. For instance, on the Promulgation Day, any one who was neither in Uhuru Park nor near a TV set, just needed to be following the presidential aspirant’s blow by blow happenings at the ceremony. @KTNKenya is also quite present; posting up-to-the-minute news updates as well as yours truly @PULSEKenya with lots of hot entertainment issues of the day.

Corporates too

Corporates such as Bata, Nokia and Safaricom have not been left behind and utilise it fully in reaching their target markets. Tweeps insist customers who hit corporate organisations via Twitter enjoy more efficient service than those who go through the call-in customer care service.

If you haven’t tried Twitter yet, get on it. It’s simple. Just answer one simple question: What are you doing? Oh, and do it in 140 characters or less, please.
Once you learn the ropes, you will wonder how you ever got along without it? So go ahead, it’s time to cross Mombasa Road from Mukuru Kwa Zuckerberg to Karen, the land of horsey and Dorsey.