Kenya leading social media consumption in Africa USIU study

A new study released on Wednesday has revealed that Kenyans form the largest number of social media consumers in Africa.

The study – dubbed ‘Social Media Consumption in Kenya’ – was conducted as a joint partnership between the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) and the U.S. Embassy.

USIU Vice Chancellor Prof. Paul Zeleza, speaking during the launch, noted that social media has become an increasingly available platform to young people who are using it to create jobs in the digital space.

“The survey sampled 3,269 respondents aged between 14 and 55 from eight counties drawn from Nairobi, Coast, Central, Western, Nyanza, Eastern, Rift Valley, and North Eastern between December 2018 and March 2019,” read the report.

“While most Kenyans use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, the survey found the main reasons they use social media were to access news, politics, and entertainment.”

The report further indicated that most Kenyans aged between 21 and 35 spend an average of three hours per day on social media; further that a majority of Kenyans use WhatsApp (88.6 percent) and Facebook (88.5 percent) as their preferred platforms.

“According to the 2017/2018 Communication Authority of Kenya report, the number of mobile data subscriptions in Kenya currently stands at 40.7 million, 38 percent more than in the same period the previous year ,with the internet penetration in the country at 83 percent based on the Internet World Statistics,” added the report.

“This indicates that a majority of Kenyans have access to the internet through their mobile phones, computers and internet enabled devices. This has led to the growth of internet consumption in Kenya at home (70 percent), at the office and on the go using mobile internet access or public WIFIs (58 percent).”