The much anticipated return of the son of the soil finally broke forth on Friday 24th July at 2002 hours East African time, when Air Force One touched down at the JKIA where tens of journalists, both local and international were eagerly waiting to capture that moment when the most powerful person on Earth, the president of the United States of America, Barrack Hussein Obama was going to step on Kenyan soil, being the first sitting US president to do so.
It was a sigh
of relief for millions of Kenyans especially those who live in Nairobi, for
Obama to step out of that huge, magnificient airbus, one of its kind, since the
Nairobians had already been held hostage in their own city for hours waiting
for the arrival of the US President.
Of course,
president Obama was visiting Kenya for the sixth Global Entrepreneurship
Summit, the first to be held in sub-saharan Africa and the second to be held in
Africa after the third which was held in Morroco last year. This three day
event was going to mark a turning point in the entrepreneurial history of Kenya
and Africa as a whole. Kenya has been greatly described as the gate to Africa arising
in technological and entrepreneurial advancement and this was her time to
launch into that arena.
As many were
glued to their Tv screen to witness this historic event, there was a team which
had analyzed Obama’s visit before it actually happened, ‘fought many battles’
to make it happen, prepared the avenue on which Obama was going to ride on and
also spread a proper ground for him to tread upon while in Kenya. This is the
social media team.
Ranging from
facebook, twitter, Instagram, blogs, websites and such like platforms, the
social media in Kenya was a buzz of activity as teams such as #KOT
(KenyansOnTwitter) widely shared information using different hashtags to
describe Obama’s visit, the preparations, the actual events during the GES as
well as antics from the sidelines.
In today’s
world, with the high level of technological advancement in communication
especially in the mobile industry, Hashtags have become the norm in which
information is shared, since they easily identify information pieces and make
it to flow very fast as well as bringing similar information together.
During Obama’s
visit to Kenya, hashtags were widely used in the different social media
platforms and they proved to be powerful tools of impact in the communication
industry in today’s era.
#KideroGrass
Nairobi
Governor Dr. Evans Kidero initiated a beautification process for the city of
Nairobi weeks before the arrival of POTUS (President of the United States) in
the country. This project estimated at a cost of Kshs. 180 Million attracted a
myriad of comments from many online users who used the hashtag #kiderograss.
Comments varied from questioning the large amount of money allocated for the
work compared to the quality of the work delivered, the time in which the grass
was planted and its ability to grow within days before the arrival of POTUS.
@LLoperioMUSA No one is under pressure like the
#kiderograss which should grow in days.
After POTUS
left the country, this trend still continued with many saying that #kiderogras
was no longer under pressure to grow. Others wanted a proper account for the
money allocated for this project. This hashtag was frequently used alongside
#NowThatObamaIsGone after president Obama left the country.
#ObamaReturns
This is one of
the trends that did well and trended for a long period of time in the month of
July with many online users very excited that President Obama was visiting
Kenya as the first sitting president of the US. It was described as a historic
event and one which would change the world’s perspective about Kenya. Many blew
the trumpet that Obama was not only visiting Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurial
Summit but was also visiting his father’s homeland where he would interact and
mingle with his African family.
Powerful and
strong messages that Obama delivered during the GES at UN headquarters at
Gigiri were posted online alongside this hashtag.
@JamesPatie Jubilee was electes, support it –
Obama tells Opposition #ObamaReturns.
Obama’s call
for youth and women empowerment and his enthusiasm for the next generation was
widely spread via the social media platforms via this trend.
#GES2015 & #KenyaMeansBusiness
These hashtags
were primarily used to point out some of the key highlights that came up during
the Global Entrepreneurial Summit which was hosted by our president Uhuru
Kenyatta and President Barrack Obama. In this summit young Kenyan entrepreneurs
had a chance to pitch their ideas before potential investors from across the
globe.
The President
of the United States was visiting Kenya to attend the Global Entrepreneurship
Summit and also for bilateral talks with president Uhuru Kenyatta.
#SomeOneTellCNN
America’s
Cable News Network experienced the wrath of team KOT –Kenyans on Twitter, as it
is famously known, after it aired a story that seemed to paint Kenya
negatively. CNN cited that president Obama was not only visiting his father’s
homeland but also going to a ‘hotbed of terror’. This is not the first time
that CNN is carrying negative stories about Kenya as the same was experienced
in 2013 during the general elections.
However,
Kenyans were quick to criticize and highly respond to CNN. This even attracted
the attention of other international news casts like The Independent and the
BBC
#KenyanMediaFailure
The buzz did
not end without the criticizing of the local media stations and outlets for
highly concentrating on the sidelines of Obama’s visit rather than highlighting
more on the GES and its importance to Kenyans.
#NowThatObamaIsGone
After the
whole buzz, Airforce One took off to Ethiopia where Obama was going to
address the African Union summit, and it
was time to go back to the daily routines and domestic affairs, now that Obama
was gone.
