This archive report was first published on 18 July 2019.
According to a report released on July 14, 2019, men in Kenya are more active in social media platforms than women. The report, conducted by United States International University-Africa's (USIU-Africa) SIMElab, found that men lead in all social media platforms as active users.
Overall, 31 per cent of Kenyans use social media for acquiring information, 28 per cent for entertainment, and 24 per cent for social interactions. The report highlights the time people spend on social media, a growing concern due to its potential impact on productivity and physical social interactions.
Interestingly, the report found that 21 to 25 year-olds spend more than three hours in a typical day browsing social media, while 26 to 35 year-olds spend at least one hour. The youngest Kenyans (14 to 21 years) spend mostly between two and three hours on social media, whereas those above 46 years spend the least time on social media.
The most popular social media platforms in Kenya are WhatsApp (88.6 per cent) and Facebook (88.5 per cent), followed by YouTube at 51.2 per cent. Professional networking site LinkedIn and Snapchat are the least popular in Kenya at 9.3 per cent and 9.0 per cent respectively.
The report draws from a nationwide survey of social media consumption patterns among different demographic segments, conducted between December 2018 and March 2019. The survey sampled 3,269 respondents aged between 14 and 55 from eight counties drawn from Kenya's former eight administrative provinces.
