What Kenyans do online - Digital Life study

The study also revealed that 62% of Kenya's users access the internet on a personal computer - 29% from home and 33% at work respectively, and 41% of users access the internet from a cyber cafe. The Digital Life study also showed that although email access remains the top online activity in Kenya and the sub-Saharan region, usage of the internet for social media and knowledge and education access is growing steadily.

According to the study, the online development path in Kenya is radically different from many other markets as Kenya has higher mobile compared to developed markets. In the last two years, internet usage in Kenya went from 9.5% in 2009 to 20% in 2010. According to TNS Research International, while digital media investments in developed markets will yield strong return on investment, emerging markets require cross-media strategies to complement digital media.

"This shows high potential for growth in the mobile internet business platform in Kenya. However, this growth has to be spurred by seamless cross-media strategies to ensure maximum return on investment for any digital media investment in the country," said Melissa Baker, TNS Research International CEO East Africa.

For business people or people planning to invest in Kenya, digital is an emerging media.

"Prepare for an explosion of activity as quality access opens up latent demand, it will become more representative of the population, and is being driven by mobile access. Ensure mobile part of your digital engagement strategy. Go mobile first!" advices Baker.

Engaging consumers in the digital arena is not the same as traditional marketing and broadcast media. "It is much more complex. Understand different segments using the internet and engage with them according to their needs," she says.

What are Kenyans doing online?

• Connecting and sharing with others online, uploading pictures to a photo sharing site or internet dating
  
• Keeping up to date with current affairs, sports, culture and the weather
  
• Browsing for things to buy online or offline; eg. consumer reviews, websites, search engines
  
• Email - personal email account. Checking inbox, writing and composing email messages
  
• Watching video, listening to music or radio streaming or watching on-demand TV programs
  
• Sourcing general information and learning online; 'googling' online encyclopaedias and self-educating online

Frome the various activities of users, email, social, multimedia, news, knowledge and personal interest are the ways to engage consumers via mobile. The study also reveals that brands are a subject of conversation in social networks; expect the numbers of inactive consumers to drop as quality of access improves.

In Kenya, social networkers (91%) are actively talking about brands in social media. Kenyans engaging with brands are looking for information about them meaning for Kenyan online users, brand building is not just about having a website.

Digital lifestyles

The study categorised the lifestyles of online Kenyan users into six segments:

Influencers - The internet is an integral part of their life. They are young and big mobile internet users accessing it everywhere, all of the time. They blog and are passionate social networkers who want to make sure as many people as possible hear their online voice.

Knowledge-seekers - Use the internet to gain knowledge, information and to educate themselves about the world. They are not big users of social networks; like to hear from like-minded people especially to help them in making purchase decisions. They are very interested in the latest trends.

Communicators - They love talking and expressing themselves; face-to-face, on a fixed line, mobile or on social networking sites, instant messaging or just emailing people. They tend to be smartphone users and connect online from their mobile, at home, at work or at college.

Networkers - The internet is important for them to establish and maintain relationships. They have a busy life (professional and personal), they use things like social networking to keep in touch with people they wouldn't have time to otherwise. They are big home internet user and very open to talking to brands and looking for promotions.

Aspirers - They look to create a personal space online. They are very new to the internet and access via mobile and internet cafes but somewhat from home. They are not doing a great deal at the moment online but are desperate to do more of everything, especially from a mobile device.

Functionals - To them, the internet is a functional tool. They don't want to express themselves online. They like emailing, checking the news, sport and weather and online shopping. They are mostly not interested in running their social life online and are worried about data privacy and security. They are older and have been using the internet for a long time.

According to TNS, most internet users in sub-Saharan Africa are aspirers and communicators.