Uhuru,Karua most popular presidents on Social Media

Screen shot of Martha Karua Twitter handle

Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta has the largest following on Social Media closely followed by Narc Kenya presidential hopeful Martha Karua. At the third place is Eagle Alliance Peter Kenneth while Raila Odinga of Cord comes fourth.

Uhuru Kenyatta has 330,000 likes on his Facebook page and 92,000 followers on Twitter. In total Uhuru has about 430,000 followers on Social Media. But it should be noted that most social media users may follow a candidate both on Twitter and still like their page on Facebook.

Martha Karua has the most following on Twitter with 116,00 followers. She has 230,000 likes on her official Facebook page.Karua who is the only female presidential candidate has a total following of 346,000 on Social Media.

Eagle Presidential candidate Peter Kenneth is more popular online than Cord presidential aspirant Raila Odinga. Kenneth has a total of 228,000 followers on Social Media against Raila’s 180,000. Kenneth has 165,000 Facebook likes and 63,000 Twitter following.

Raila has 104,000 Twitter followers and 76,000 Facebook likes. Latest opinion polls shows Raila is the leading presidential candidate in the March 4th elections.

Raila Odinga Screen Shot 2013-01-23 at 11.56.15 AM

Amani Alliance candidate Musalia Mudavadi is the most dormant presidential candidate online. Mudavadi has a paltry 3,800 followers on Twitter and 5,700 Facebook likes. Rebuild and Restore Kenya party candidate James Ole Kiyiapi has a total following of 27,000 both in Facebook and Twitter.

Only three candidates,Uhuru Kenyatta,Martha Karua and Raila Odinga, have had their Twitter handles verified. The rest may be ‘fake’ accounts.

Among the candidates Karua is the most effective user of her accounts. She has come up with “AskMartha” on Thursday where her followers ask questions and responds to them. This has mad the iron lady of Kenyan politics popular on Twitter.

Despite Uhuru Kenyatta having the biggest following but is not engaging. Uhuru uses his accounts to update his whereabouts and post photographs of the rallies he attends.

Most candidates rarely update their accounts by have special teams to do the work hence lacking personal touch with followers.

If online following were votes then Uhuru Kenyatta will beat Raila Odinga in polls. However most people do not necessarily follow a candidate because they support them.