So Tunisia happened, Egypt is happening, and questions and opinions are now emerging, speculating on who will happen next in this great continent of ours.

Tunisians were successful and Egyptians are slowly but surely forcing change. There are other Arab countries with Revolutions of their own but it is all Egypt now, stealing all the world attention. But can this happen in Sub-Saharan Africa is the question I have been pondering over. Do the demographics in Sub-Saharan Africa have the capacity to constitute similar revolutions given that the transgressions of both Egyptian and former Tunisian leaders are similar to those of most African leaders. @Shelisrael asked me a couple of days ago “how are Kenyan viewing these upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia?” And I have posed various questions on Twitter to get a sense of what Kenyans feel about these revolutions.

No Revolutions Here

From the tweets I have read by Kenyans on Twitter and a couple of Facebook updates, the message that is being sent out is there will be no revolutions here: not for lack of issues that would otherwise spark revolutions but rather for lack of homogeneity that would make such a revolution possible. Have you found it curious that fears of a revolution have been felt across the Arab Nations as opposed to the greater African region where Tunisia and Egypt both belong to? Isn’t it curious that other corrupt African octogenarians who have hoarded power through oppressive regimes for decades are not in the least worried (or at least don’t seem to be) about the happenings in Tunisia and Egypt? The much you can see about revolutions in these countries are scattered tweets about the hopelessness of attempting a revolution in their respective countries or retweets of the happenings in Egypt.

Sub-Saharan Demographics…

If you ask me, I believe that the demographics of non-Arabic African countries have a lot to do with the nonchalant attitudes that the likes of Mugabe have towards the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. Generally looking at what Kenyans have posted on Facebook, Twitter, and on blogs, Tribalism is emerging as a leading hindrance to any form of revolution in Kenya. The others are Police Brutality especially in memory of the 2008 post election violence, a largely conservative middle class that would rather tweet than walk the streets (Malcolm Gladwell would shake his head in acknowledgement to this), and our love for Tea Breaks – (thanks Dickens for pointing this out). Most countries are too divided internally that the consensus to revolt against a Government is never a cause for worry to most of these leaders. Take Gbagbo for instance, Ivorians have a major case to revolt but Gbagbo is still sitting pretty in office with ECOWAS and AU revolting on the behalf of Ivorians. Why? Because the country is split and though I don’t understand the mechanics of it all, I can say with certainty that it will boil down to either religious or tribal divides.

Does Social Media Spark Revolutions?

Evident in all these revolutions has been the role of social media especially in organizing and getting the word out. But it is not social media that sparked these revolutions but rather the stark realities and incidences on the ground that have caused people to react both online and offline. Given the crackdown of the Internet in Egypt, it is clear that social media does play a major role in the revolutions but it would be wrong to say it sparks them. It facilitates them in a big way though; making it a great though not indispensable tool for revolutions. Take note of the fact that the revolt in Egypt did not falter or end because the Internet was shut down. The revolution has persisted nonetheless. Kenyans are now in the process of signing an online petition that is looking to get 1 million signatures to compel the Government not to withdraw from the ICC. Can these million move to the streets? Can a revolution really happen online with a signature and a tweet? As PLO says, “Revolution’s don’t write letters telling you they are coming.”

The True Value of Social Media

While a revolution may not be sparked by conversations on social media channels, depending on how social media is used, social media can drive these revolutions. Social Media can be used to plan and organize movements on the ground. Social Media can be used to get the word out through citizen journalism because where traditional media have no presence or the capacity to have a presence, it is citizen journalists who have come out to bridge this divide by sending out videos, pictures, tweets, and other information that wouldn’t otherwise come out. And even with the blockade of the Internet in Egypt, it is interesting to see how people have rallied to help Egyptians on the ground to get their word out. This has been through ingenious methods such @speaktotweet where Egyptians can call a Google number, leave a message and it will be transcribed as a tweet by an army of volunteers. There are other ways Egyptians are circumventing the internet blockade.

Your thoughts…

A while back, a friend (Mikul) mentioned to me the possibility of having all people vying to be members of parliament in an online database of sorts through which Kenyans could, media, and International Media could monitor the happenings in Kenyan Politics on a county by county or constituency by constituency basis. This idea really excited me and after tweeting or mentioning the same to someone, they told me that it is already there and pointed me to Mzalendo.

Mzalendo is a website that was set up by Ory Okolloh to keep tabs on members of Parliament in Kenya. I have been there, looked at a couple of profiles, read up on the information that has so far been collected about the MP’s. It is indeed an incredible resource. However, I have found some crucial information missing on even key ministers and that made me wonder about the possibility of not only having profile of the current MP’s but going beyond that to include profiles of those vying to be members of parliament. Would this even be viable given the difficulty in filling up the profiles of the current members of parliament?

From what I have seen so far, people have been asked to volunteer information on any of the Members of Parliament to fill up their profiles. Is this the best model and would the same be a feasible model for seeking information for the vying members of parliament in 2012?

The Platform

The platform will be the place where those vying to be members of parliament and those vying to be governors for the counties have their profiles which will comprise their achievements, their track record, and experience, what they promise to do for the county or constituency in their years in parliament or senate as well etc. This however will not stop at that because comments would be allowed where people from these counties and constituencies can interrogate them on the various issues, vet their credentials, and in every other way get to know the people they will be voting for.

The Past

This platform would be such a big disconnect from the past where all we knew about the members of parliament we were to vote for were the little snippets in the news showing them using cliché leadership utterances at political gatherings. And most of us usually don’t have to go to these political campaigns and even if we had the time, we probably would not go because nothing worthwhile is ever said, nothing concrete that we can hold those vying accountable to. And frankly, you always get the feeling that they make up the stuff they say right there on the podium as they speak. Few of these guys have manifestos because vying for these positions to them is a popularity contest as opposed to a grave responsibility.

Serious Contenders

The Platform can be developed such that only the serious contenders who have thought beyond the campaigns will be comfortable to upload and update their profiles, upload their manifesto’s, outline their development agenda, and let people vet their leadership credentials. Looking at some members of parliament today, they are a Joke. You wonder how they get elected when clearly they lack the mental and moral capacity to do anything for their constituents. Making uploading a manifesto or outlining your development agenda a required field will definitely cut out the jokers who hog the limelight because of their noise levels. And using the development agenda that they outline, they know that a recall will be in order if they don’t accomplish these.

Crowdsource

May be you can advice on how best to go about registering the vying people on to the platform but I think reaching out to those planning to vie for county or parliamentary positions to register themselves would work out best. This will require a comprehensive marketing strategy that should see most politicians want to have a profile. And because we are all very likely to write up the most flattering things about ourselves, the less fascinating stuff that might surface will emerge from the public who will seek clarification, interrogate aspects of your past – if it’s tainted – and also interrogate your plans for the constituency based on their needs as your constituents. As opposed to podiums where politicians love to shout from, this will be a place where those you are communicating with will hold you to account on what you say.

Even without The Platform

Even without the platform proposed above, I think may aspects that would have been covered with the platform will still be covered online on various platforms – social media mainly – though in an unstructured manner. Politicians will be put to book in the various platforms online by Kenyans online who are now their fans on Facebook or their followers on Twitter. And even those who lack an online presence will not be spared either because Kenyans will still discuss them on these social platforms as they still do now.

All said and done, I would still prefer a structured platform… Its impact would be greater especially when conversations about the various members happening elsewhere online are aggregated onto the platform… Have I mentioned a mobile version of the platform? Well, that too.

What are your thoughts?

If there is one tweet that made my day this year, it is the one by Jeff Koinange where he tweeted that “This Titter Stuff is DaBomb.”

During an interview with one of my favourite Kenyans, Mutahi Ngunyi, I wondered why Jeff did not have a twitter account yet he is one of the most popular if not the most popular TV personalities in Kenya today. That he runs the most popular talk show in the country which is a frequent subject of discourse on Twitter was all the more reason for him to be on Twitter. I even thought of either a @capitaltalk username or #capitaltalk hashtag just to get the conversations going on Twitter. And not only that, his persona is the kind that I thought would so easily take to Twitter. Then a day or so later, I saw one of the Kenyans I follow send a tweet to @Koinangejeff and I was sure to follow and check whether this was a genuine account. And sure it was. I followed immediately and in the next capital talk show, I was even more pleasantly surprised to see Jeff’s Twitter handle on the screen as he interviewed someone.

Though he is not the first Kenyan Media Personality to have a presence on Twitter, he is certainly one of the more exciting ones and one who has really taken to it given his level of engagement after only a short while on the platform. From KTN to NTV, it is now becoming a commonplace occurrence to not only ask people to like them on their Facebook Pages and follow them on Twitter but it has now moved from mere looking for Fans to requests for engagement. Many more Radio stations have a presence on Facebook and Twitter as well as YouTube in an effort to build their communities online. Building an online community is becoming an essential aspect of mainstream media as part an outlet for them.

In the past few months, I have with growing interest monitored the influx of mainstream media and media personalities especially into Twitter. There was a time when the only media personalities were @larrymadowo, @lwalubengo, @terryannechebet, @olivermathenge and @jbonyo but that now seems like eons ago. Almost every media personality today is on these social networks establishing their personal spheres of influence while also acting as advocates for their employers. I am not sure whether they look at their presence in these social networks as platforms to establish themselves as authorities (a tag that would stick to them regardless of employer) or whether it is just a popularity measure whose influence is measured by numbers as opposed to substance. May you can elaborate the motivations behind your having a social presence in the comments section below.

News doesn’t break, it tweets. That is the reality today. And we are the better for it, and I believe media personalities are the better for it as well. For most Kenyans online, we today get our news on the go from tweets from the reporters on the ground. We do not have to wait till evening for breaking news or until the next day for the papers. The advent of citizen journalism has also meant that reporters now also get their news from their twitter timelines because news today breaks both ways. And beyond just reporting, we are also seeing discourse emerging over these channels and going forward, I believe that every Media Outlet in the country will train its journalists to not write their articles and opinion articles just for consumption by other but to monitor the conversations that emanate from them and respond accordingly.

In the leading news networks, news anchors, reporters, field journalists go to great lengths to cultivate a great following. They actively ask people to engage with them on their various platforms and carry the conversations forward in the threads of their blogs, Facebook pages, and on Twitter because there is only so much they can say while reading the news. I believe that we will be seeing more and more of that here as well.

I am happy to see many Kenyan Executives joining Twitter as well.

What say you?

Every time I have a bone to pick with a company, I sometimes get one person who will disagree with me and tell me that this company is not that bad; that I must have caught them at a bad time or talked to the wrong person. Sometimes, in an attempt to show me that this particular company is not that bad, they link me up to a person that I can talk to within these companies or when they can, help me out with the problem themselves. And you will be surprised at the number of potential brand advocates that Kenyan companies have especially online.

Who is a Brand Advocate?

Brand Advocates are those people who will always come out to defend a brand whenever it comes under attack even though they have no affiliation whatsoever with the brand except as clients or former clients. Brand advocates are those people outside your company who answer questions posted about your company’s products or services. They are people who as clients or users have an intimate understanding of your products or services and who others online and offline have identified as the go-to resource persons. They are the people who in your absence in forums, chat rooms, on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social network answer questions posted about your products. They are those people who have established themselves as authorities in your industry through their blogs and hence people seek their advice with regard to products and services in your industry.

You Can’t Be Everywhere

As a business, you cannot be everywhere. Even with monitoring tools and a heavy online presence, you can only put a dent in response to mentions with regard to your industry or company both online and offline. Given many Kenyan businesses lack greatly when it comes to online monitoring of brand mentions, brand advocates become indispensable because they are the ones who without pay ensure that shit does not hit the fan when it comes to your brand. Brand advocates are therefore those people who are there for your brand in areas you would otherwise have not reached. And by understanding that you cannot be everywhere, have you as a business identified those who can be there on your behalf. Do you know who the influencers in your industry are?

Empowering Advocates

You not only need to find who these influencers are in your Industry but you also need to reach out and empower them. I was watching Jeremiah Owyang’s keynote speech at #LeWeb in France when he pointed out the same. In his 2011 Social Business Forecast, he urged listeners to develop an unpaid army of advocates and pointed out what Microsoft has done with its MVP Program. He went on to say that Microsoft have 4000 MVP’s (Most Valuable Professionals) who are not given any type of money but are given access to trips, access to executives, access to products, and they go out there and answer questions from customers and they promote the Microsoft Brand. He finished by saying that this is the best option for corporations because it is scalable. Social Media is not scalable because you can never hire enough community managers to respond to your customers.

Business Clubs

An army of Brand Advocates is not an alien concept. In fact, it is reminiscent of Business Clubs which are now present among many banks in Kenya where the members have business trips organized for them by the bank to various parts of the world where they get to learn from their counterparts across the globe. The same should also be done for brand advocates who have the following online to really scale your brand and products.

Is Kenya Ready?

I think Kenyan companies are ready for this. I think there is enough traction online for Kenyan businesses to identify “MVP’s”, reach out to them, get them on board as brand advocates, and keep them informed…

Which Kenyan company do you know of that already does this? If none, who do you think will be the first? I am betting on Nokia, Safaricom, and maybe Samsung…

I got to see what’s up before it gets me down is a line in a song by Common in his Finding Forever album.

When you look at most of the online crises that got the better of the companies involved, the common denominator is that they were caught unawares. Getting caught with your pants down is the worst thing that can happen to your business in this social media age and especially so if you have not put measures in place to mitigate the fallout. And by measures, I don’t mean that stuff you have been doing for the past decade. It’s a new world! Mitigating issues arising in new media channels is a different kettle of fish.

IT illiterate Boss

It is important that you as the management understand and appreciate IT. The businesses that will really scale in this age on new media are those which have leaders who have a keen eye on IT and who are open to the emerging technologies. Social Media is changing the way most businesses approach issues from marketing, customer care, PR, Research and Development, advertisement, among many other business functions. And to be able to integrate social media within these critical business functions, it must be with the blessing of the management (leadership). But this will never happen if the management fails to understand and appreciate the potential of new media. And that will be the reason most of these Kenyan businesses will be caught unawares when sh*t hits the fan online.

Monitoring Mentions

When you have a management team that has sanctioned your participation in social media, the first thing to do is always monitoring mentions of your company name online. This is never a one-off thing but rather a continuous process whose intention is to get you on top of every mention of your company – positive, negative, or neutral. The reason you do this is to get a feel of the real sentiments about your companies and more important still, to get on top of potentially explosive negative comments about your company or products. But that again calls for a different set of skills altogether. Many companies have destroyed their brand images even further by failing to respond appropriately to negative mentions. Inappropriate responses usually exacerbate an already bad situation and hence the need to have in place a proper response mechanism – something a social media strategy/policy would have covered.

Responding Appropriately

People can be brutal and a thick skin is always an asset. Mind you, I have said a thick skin, not head. Whatever is said about you, don’t get into a pissing contest but rather learn to manage the reactions while keeping your cool. The best response is always to be helpful. Nothing shuts up a ranting mouth better than immediate helpful feedback/solution. The silly thing to do and which most people will be tempted to do is delete the negative comments. The better, more mature, and long-lasting thing to do is tackle the problems head on. Be helpful when the issues emerges and go even further to tackle it in a blog post if there is further explanations needed. Square it out by laying it bare and reach a mutually beneficial outcome.

It is already here

If you are one of those businesses that think we are not yet there or use some other internet penetration levels excuse for not taking a keener look at your online presence, a look at the most visited websites in Kenya should be sobering enough. We are already there. Social Media websites is where people are spending a majority of their time online. It is where your presence is needed. If you ignore it, you will find yourself down with no clue at all about what hit you. You won’t see it coming. So take Common’s advice; “See what’s up before it gets you down”, it’s common sense.

The worst part about Kenyan TV programming which is now overrun by soap after soap after freaking soap are the frequent

adverts that are just as great an eyesore as the soaps. And frankly, the scripts may actually be written by the same person. While the soaps have too much crying in them, the adverts are so horrid you will want to cry.  Who comes up with this stuff is the question that constantly racks my brain? Given how bad these adverts are, can the businesses behind these mediocre scripts survive the emerging trends of Social TV where content created for TV scales in social media channels where a majority of Kenyans are now spending most of their time online on?

Juvenile Scripts

Most adverts on Kenyan TV are devoid of creativity, wit, humour, and too heavy on information delivered via mediocre scripts that leave a lot to be desired. There are exceptions of course but those are few and far between. Many people I know rarely sit through these adverts. They always have the remote at hand to change the channels whenever these ads come up. And these are the same people who will on twitter or on Facebook ask their friends or followers for links to the cool new advert that everyone is talking about. See the difference? Kizuri Chajiuza! (A good thing sells itself). Whereas people like my brother go to extreme lengths, even shutting the TV off, to avoid some of these mediocre ads, they will also go to those very extreme lengths to find that good ad that people are talking about. And that is the difference that will make the difference with regard to which adverts will scale and which won’t.

The Making of Adverts

One of the major causes of juvenile scripts and mediocre adverts in Kenya is usually non-creatives taking on the role and responsibilities of the creative people whose work it is to conjure up marketing and advertising ideas. My brother works in a company that makes quite a number of the adverts that we see on TV today. Some of them are so bad that I ask him what the hell were they thinking coming up with that. And he tells me that companies usually come with the script and just require them to make the ads. And he then tells me that even though he likes the ads that they make, the company representatives usually end up stripping the ads of its creative elements by ordering them to remove this and that. In the end, he hates the ads that comes out but that is what the company that hired them wants. There is no legroom for creativity. And here is the thing; most managers are good with systems and processes. When they are the same people responsible for writing scripts for your ads, guess what you will end up with, a brochure in motion.

When Creativity Reigns

When creativity is let loose to do its job, what you end up with are Peter Marangi like adverts that captivate and which create conversations around them. Safaricom adverts have also been very creative and the #NikoNa advert is arguably the best advert of 2010. The Tusker Milele ad which is my all time favourite ad also represents what creativity can do for a brand. I have laid blame with management for seeking to control the brand message too much that it stifles creativity but a share of the blame also goes to ad agencies. Some of them are given the sole responsibility of coming up with an ad from script writing to the finished product. And they also fail in a big way in the creativity arena probably because the standards have not been set high such that mediocre reigns.

Cede Control

The question therefore is: can Kenyan companies cede the tight control that they now have over the creative process? Can Kenyan companies cede control of the message so that good ads that can scale can finally be created? Can Kenyan companies outsource the creative aspects of their branding that they clearly lack the creative capacity to handle in-house? Can Kenyan companies take a risk by making ads that don’t fit conventional profile?

Social Media

In 2011, I think we will begin seeing greater migration of TV ads towards social media and this will probably be what will jumpstart mindsets of most Kenyan companies. These companies will realize that their adverts have the potential of really scaling in social channels and this will require a new approach that caters to the eccentricities of the social media crowd. Kenyan companies will start creating adverts for TV and cross publishing them in social media channels as well. Some may even take the bold step of creating ads strictly for YouTube.

And talking of  YouTube, this is one of the best ads I have ever seen…

Your thoughts… And while at it, let me know which are your best or worst Kenyan adverts and why?

“Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.”

I had a hearty laugh the first time I read that. And to date, I can’t help but smile whenever I recall this simple yet powerful quote.

Back in high school and even at the University, not to mention in everyday life, I have heard and continue to hear stories of “successful” exploits by my friends, colleagues and acquaintances with regard to women, business ventures, office shenanigans etc. The interesting thing in all these stories is that those telling it are always the victors and if not, some wrong had been committed against them to rob them of their victory. If it’s with regard to women, my friends who got dumped claim that they are the ones who did the dumping. When it comes to business deals, they always claim that it is as a result of their genius that a big deal was sealed, that a major problem was solved etc. The people telling the story will always skew it to cast themselves in positive light.

And it is just human nature. I always take these stories with a pinch of salt. And since I am quite perceptive, I notice the small things. Those little nuggets of information that suggest that there is more than meets the eye. Hence the reason I go looking for the other side of the story. But not everybody does that. Many people take the story that is put out as the only truth and take sides based on the story that has been told. Time and time again, I have seen faulty stories take a life of their own and it is usually because “Lions don’t have their own historians”.

Whenever my friends/colleagues would sit down and tell me of their successes business or otherwise, it was just us having a drink in private where there was no chance for anyone who might/could refute these claims would be present. And this for a long time ensured that the tales of the hunt continued to glorify the hunters. But then comes social media and privacy takes a whole new meaning. Whatever people say in corners is now tweeted and blogged for the world to see which has meant that people who previously could refute many of these claims but did not have access now have access to these stories and can come in and set the record straight. What does this have to do with social media and your business?

Many truths, half-truths, and falsehoods are said about businesses every day. Most of these are now being said online and smart businesses are out there listening to mentions of them online. From disgruntled customers, pissed-off former employees, envious competitors, happy clients, former and current suppliers etc, they are telling their stories in their dealings with you online with different motivations behind then. And as a business, it is important to listen to these sentiments being expressed because at the end of the day, they do affect your bottom-line. If the sentiments are negative, they influence people away from your business. If they are positive, they bring people to your door. But whether positive or negative, you as a business should not be on standby – voiceless and detached in the conversation. Come in to affirm, refute, best of all, tell your own stories.

As a business, don’t be voiceless. Others are speaking out and social media has also given your business the platforms to lend your voice to the conversation not just in response to what is being said about you but to write your own stories. Social Media has given lions the voice that enables them to go toe-to-toe with the hunters in telling the story that is truly representative of their business – its culture, its history, and its successes. Be it for online reputation management, customer care, marketing, public relations etc, as long as you understand that your uncontrived voice is your selling point in telling your stories, your tales will captivate and win you customers and loyalties.

But always remember, “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” Be a smart lion, tell your own stories. Social Media is your friend.

A year ago, almost, I decided to out my own and established Socialight Media Kenya, a company that would provide Social Media solutions to Kenyan businesses. This was a big risk first because nobody seemed to care what Social Media could do for businesses and secondly because nobody knew I was nor cared for that matter. I was faceless but a faceless resource. So how do I put my name out there was the question. And the answer was the very solutions that I was selling to businesses.

Blogging

So come January 2010, I set out blogging. My niche was Social Media and every two days, I would chuck a blog post that dealt with one aspect or another of social media and Kenyan businesses. My focus was not even clients but rather creating content that expressed the need for businesses to appreciate social media. And a lot was happening that content was always at my fingertips. Everywhere I turned were content opportunities which I revelled in and wrote about.

After a couple of posts, I got that first comment which was ecstatic. I got indexed in the various search engines and the traffic to my site started trending upwards. I was showing up in SERPs for a myriad of keywords that I had optimized for and in the second month of blogging, I was already ranking first in SERP’s for Social Media in Kenya. Still I continued blogging. Social Media is something that traversed industries and I went across industries in my coverage of what social media could do for Kenyan businesses.

Recognition

In the second month of blogging, my first major client contacted me. He had been in conference in the UK where they were told of the importance of social media. On coming back to Kenya, he searched for “Social Media in Kenya” and guess who was sitting pretty at the top of the Search Engine Results Page? So he contacted me and I began work for him. I have since been consulting for him on and off and he has become a really good friend as well.

In March, I was contacted by Kaburo Kobia from Kenya ICT Board to speak on Social Media at the second Tandaa Symposium on Film and Animation. In addition, the traffic to my site, while still descent, had skyrocketed in comparison to the first two months of blogging. The comments were now becoming a regular feature and so were the inquiries by potential clients. This then required that I move from Nakuru where I was initially based to Nairobi.

Quotable

I remember sitting down for coffee with a couple of gentlemen who had invited me to give them insight on a project they were running after loving my presentation at the Tandaa Symposium. In the ensuing discussions, one of them shared something he had read that was interesting he had bookmarked it. I was smiling so hard (on the inside) because the content he was referring to was a blog post I had written a few months earlier. That was repeated a couple other times in different settings with different people.

Then I was contacted by a gentleman from the Business Daily who wanted me to answer a couple of questions with regard to Social Media. I became a little bit too generous with my answers and he quoted me throughout the Business Daily article on Local Digital Content. Then there is other blogs referring to my content, linking to my content, making my site look really hot to Google bots and hence making Socialight Media rank even higher for social media and related search terms.

International Recognition

Beyond the Kenyan borders, I was really excited when big social media names, people of International repute stopped by and commented on my blog. Amber Naslund, the VP Social Strategy for Radian6 and who blogs at Brass Tack Thinking made my day when she commented on one of my posts on Social Media and Focus Groups. It was also a real honour to have Chris Brogan comment on my post on Facebook currency. And for Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media to commend the post on Twitter was also very flattering.

Connections

On a different scale, I have been able to connect with Shel Israel, the famed author and social media influencer who writes at Global Neighbourhoods. Through him, I have been able to connect with some of the greatest minds in the social media scene at a global scale. I have also connected with John F Moore who runs Government in the Lab in Boston for which I signed on as a contributor (I need to do another post for OpenGov) which deals with Open Governments.

I also met Mikul Shah of Eat Out Kenya via social media. He is one Kenya’s brightest entrepreneurial talents with whom we have become really good friends and have a good working relationship. He really is one of the greatest resources and should be a mentor to many upcoming techpreneurs.

Come to think of it, is there anyone that I have connected with, done business with or consulted for, invited me to speak, and become friends with in the past year that I haven’t met via social media? I am really having a hard time figuring out whom. I will let you know if I come up with a name before I am done drafting this post.

Partnerships

Though I can’t really comment on this because these are still in the works, I have received over 5 partnership requests and going into the New Year. Those are what I will spend the next two weeks working on. Some of the partners are International, some are local and none of this would be possible were it not for social media.

Friends

I have made many friends. Some have kept me busy tweeting during the long journeys, some have made me laugh really hard because of the obnoxious hashtags the gave birth to really funny tweets, some have wished me well when the flu hit, some have wished me happy birthday, some have bought me a drink or two, some have given me good advice, while others have become really good friends they are now classified as family, and others still we hold great debates that stir the mind. Yes, I have made really good friends.

My Social Media Year

So yes, my social media year has been really good to me and going into next year with momentum I have today that I didn’t have at the beginning of this year, my social media year next year is bound to be exemplary.

And it all started with a blog, a comment, a tweet, a friend request, a connection request, and those set the stage for the rest of the things that happened.

How was your Social Media year?

This has been a tremendous year for Socialight Media and Social Media in Kenya.

Social Media has grown in leaps and bounds and Socialight Media Kenya is honored to have been here to cover aspects of this growth especially those that relate to Kenyan Businesses and their use of social media as well as the rise of the Kenyan consumer voice through these social channels.

2010 has been referred as the year of social business formation and from the happening in Kenya alone, I think we can all affirm that this has been the case as well. Kenyans have taken to social media with drive and passion and have forced businesses as well to look at social media with renewed interest. It has not been a year of mass adoption of social media by businesses but the undisputed fact is that many have taken note of social media.

I am in the process of writing a post on ” The State of Social Media – 2010″ a recap of the year 2010 and the role social media has had in it. What has stood out for this year in your social media participation? What have you achieved? What are your memorable moments? Any special connections? What is your social media story? Lend me your thoughts as I draft a recap of 2010 before we head into 2011, what is being referred as the year of Social Business Integration.

I would appreciate your feedback in the comments section below and on Twitter as well using the hashtag #SocialMedia2010

Thank you in advance?

A few weeks back, our Prime Minister kicked off a storm in not only the media but the social media scene as well when he called for the arrest of gays and lesbians in the country. Given how conservative Kenya usually is, I was surprised at how Kenyans reacted because this attack did not go well with most Kenyans, especially those on social networks. And they did not hesitate to make their opinions known. On an even greater scale, a search for Raila on Twitter revealed just how far reaching his comments were as most of the tweets casted him as a homophobe who had called for the arrest of gays and lesbians in Kenya.

Loose Tongues

Most Kenyan politicians have loose tongues and Raila’s call for the arrest of our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters symbolized that. Definition Of best defines Loose Tongue as “(Expression) a tactless, undiplomatic and insensitive manner of speaking, often thoughtlessly carried out, and likely to cause offense, indignation, embarrassment or emotional hurt in others.” During the post election scuffles, it was loose tongues that instigated the violence. But for some reason, it never seems that those among our political class with lose tongues can ever be brought to account. No more. And I love social media’s role in all this. When Raila made this statement, the reactions in social media were fast and with resolve.

Social Media

Even without an official hashtag, Raila was almost trending with the largest chunk of discourse not just on Twitter but across social networks and online media focussing on his anti-gay remarks. Most of the remarks were negative and I hardly saw one that supported his statement. I saw quite a number which said “Raila has just lost my vote.” In fact, the number of tweets and Facebook statues updates and even comments on blogs that asserted Raila had lost their votes led me to ask whether Raila has a digital strategist. The amount of negative reactions to his statement was simply overwhelming that only an idiot would ignore it.

Accountability

Raila has always been referred to a reformist who fought for Human Rights for so many years. His statement against the gay community marginalised the gay and that in itself made people question his tag as Human Rights Defender. After taking the heat both online and offline for his stance, the Prime Minister made an about-turn by claiming that the media misquoted him. I really liked this part. There was a video already on YouTube, with translations that hang on his every word – proving with certainty that he was not misquoted. Both on Twitter and on Facebook, anyone tempted to take the Prime Minister side in claiming he was misquoted was suddenly faced with a link to the evidence. And not once was I asked for the link to the articles and YouTube video and which I gladly shared.

Watch Your Tongues!

One of the best pieces of advice my mum ever gave me was to “watch your tongue and guide your mouth.” It is about time as well that through social media and other online platforms that we ensure our politicians know that no “loose tongue” shall go unpunished. Our political class will need to understand that the evidence is documented online, the courses of action discussed, and votes are won and lost based on the discourse online. Already, Our President and Prime Minister have Twitter parody accounts created in honour of their gaffes with the Prime Minister’s account having come about following his anti-gay remarks. I believe that this trend will continue down to Governors and MP’s as people take aim not just at their gaffes but corruption allegations, evidence, and even the good work that they are doing.

So word to Kenyan Politicians… The war on perception will increasingly have to be fought online especially on social networks. And the first rule of the game is not to give people the ammunition to shoot you. Be civil. What you say will spread and will have the potential to cost you your election. And one last thing, Raila and Ruto have already made it to the Global Trending Topics on Twitter for different reasons. You could be next?  The #hashtag used to get you there will depend on what you say and do. It could be #PromFriday or #RutoPlaylist. Choose wisely.