6 Kenyans Who Went Viral On Social Media In 2022

One of the most powerful tools on planet Earth is the power of socialisation. Mix that with globalisation and you get social media, arguably the greatest invention of the 21st Century.

In Kenya, social media is its biggest platform, where citizens can flex their creative might using keyboards on their laptops or smartphones. The country has its own social media military force dubbed Kenyans On Twitter (KOT) which has taken on every personality and major entity on Earth ranging from a country like Uganda to CNN itself.

Social media doesn’t take holidays in Kenya as anything and everything can become a major topic of discussion across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube among others, and not just anything, but anyone too. 2022 has seen ordinary Kenyans on social media turn into nationwide celebrities from small-small occurrences.

Viral Tea takes a look at Kenyans who went viral across social media platforms in 2022:

Liz Jackson

Until the SPM Buzz reporter came in, the only time you would hear a journalist go viral is if he or she has amassed decades in the Kenyan media industry. Liz Jackson thus blew up on Wednesday, November 9 across three social media platforms because of this.

Liz Jackson posing for a photo. /FACEBOOK

Liz was captured in a video interacting with Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua at State House after she was again captured fielding a catchy question to Presidents William Ruto and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa after they both agreed to lift the visa regulations between the two nations. Starting January 1, 2023, Kenyans will travel to South Africa visa-free for 90 days a year.

The 23-year-old shared the clip on her official handles which drew all manner of wild reactions, which were intensified by Viral Tea’s sharing of the same video but including Minority Leader Junet Mohamed’s famous phrase “Hii imeenda (it’s gone)”, all of them turning her into a star overnight.

"He (Mutua) turned to look at who was asking the question because he was a filmmaker who did Beba Beba and Cobra Squad. He acknowledged my question. Nobody else asked about Entertainment.

"Thereafter he said hello to the whole media team, just that the rest were not recorded. I asked if we could do an exclusive interview and he shared his number with us," she exclusively told Viral Tea, further dismissing speculations ignited by KOT that Mutua seemingly found a new catch.

Liz is a digital strategist who runs SPM Buzz’s digital department as well as a Lifestyle and Travel Content creator with her own YouTube channel which captures her documenting her expeditions to the Coast, Maasai Mara, and Wajir, among others.

Eric Njiru

Arguably no Kenyan journalist has covered bit by bit of the FIFA World Cup straight from Qatar other than Njiru, who is a presenter at Homeboyz Radio and works at Radio Africa Group.

One would not miss a pre-match press conference involving various teams as he shared updates of the same across social media platforms, particularly Twitter, earning plaudits from sports fans across the world.

If you wanted to watch training sessions of the team you supported at the World Cup, he got you. He even did a face-to-face interview with legendary English football commentator, Peter Drury.

The staunch Liverpool fan also hosts HBR Fanzone every Saturday alongside Lotan Salapei, Zuhum Omar and DJ John and is well known for being a thorn amongst Manchester United and Arsenal fans in Kenya.

Beth Kasinga

Not much is known about how Beth Wanjogu Kasinga became famous for the first time on Twitter but there is no KOT that has enjoyed an explosive rise to prominence in 2022 than the social media influencer.

With over 77,900 followers, Kasinga has been touted as one of the most engaging tweeps in the country, connecting Kenyans with businesses to clients and boosting them to be noticed by customers from all four walls of the 254.

She has a YouTube channel and is an entrepreneur with an array of businesses ranging from cosmetics to fashion and working with different brands on marketing contracts. Several Twitter users in 2022 lauded her for helping them build themselves on a platform viewed as one of the toughest to grow.

Metro Guy

The 2022 FIFA World Cup might be over, but for Abubakr Abbass, who goes by the name Metro Guy, this is one tournament experience he will never forget.

So famous were his antics that the Internet took to call him 'Metro Man' or 'Metro Guy' as one of the videos saw him seated on a tennis umpire chair with his foam finger directing fans to a metro station with the assistance of a megaphone, repeatedly saying "Metro".

Donning a reflector jacket, Abbass directed fans visiting the historic market, called Souq Waqif, to the station nearby. The video was shared across social media platforms, racking up millions of views in total.

One fan sought to know which country he comes from, to which he responded with Kenya, evidenced by a Google search result of Kenya, which shows the Kenyan flag and describes its location in East Africa.

“The fans were just passing by and I thought of a way that I could engage them, and have fun with them. Saying ‘metro this way...metro this way’ over and over was tiresome and boring. That is why I wanted to make it interesting,” he said.

The response was outstanding to the point that every time he says "Metro", fans gathered around respond with "This way".

Janet Machuka

She is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on various digital marketing platforms.

She is the founder of ATC Digital Academy born out of a Twitter community chat, #AfricaTweetChat and she helps brands with social media marketing, content creation, development of strategies, influencer marketing and digital marketing training. Twitter users love her so much, some took to call her “African Digital Bae”.

On June 10, 2022, she was named alongside content marketing specialist, Jean Wandimi as among the top 100 content marketing influencers and experts to follow in 2022 by Semrush, one of the leading content marketing and research firms in the world.

"Africa Tweet Chat is a leading online platform on Twitter to expand marketing possibilities within and without Africa and by Africans with representatives in the whole of East, West and Southern Africa," Machuka's website reads. 

She has over 184,500 followers on Twitter and has been prominently featured on Talkwalker, Semrush and Hubspot.

Edgar Wabwire

The journalist and digital influencer disclosed recently that he was paid Ksh2 million by President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party in the run-up to the August 9 general elections.

Wabwire has over 132,500 followers on Twitter, a matter which helped him drum up support online for the UDA presidential candidate ahead of the elections.

"When I reveal the time I made the most amount of money through Twitter, it is during the campaign period. There was a time I was paid a cheque of Ksh2 million," he disclosed.

Wabwire is a strategic communication expert whose main area of expertise is in media relations, content development, crisis communication, digital reputation management and optimization, sales and marketing. He has a proven track record in planning and executing various communication strategies, brand visibility and awareness.

He also has an active practice in developing and implementing business operations gained from working in media, online and offline market industries as well as proven expertise in managing internal, external, and digital communication. He is skilled in writing, producing, reporting, hosting, editing news, videography, photography, media relations, website management and the use of Adobe creative software.

Tracy Waithera

TikTok star Tracy Waithera, popularly known for her relatable Kikuyu and dating wababa videos, rose to popularity 2 years ago after videos of her mubaba experiences went viral where she would act out what it’s like to have a mubaba. (A mubaba is an old man ideally over the age of 45 who’s believed to be married and sponsors the lifestyle of young women for sexual benefits)

“I think it was a video that I shot where I was talking about a mubaba and people I guess got curious and wanted to know who this chic who’s talking about wababa is.”

She went on to reveal that she has had quite the experience dating a mubaba herself and that her content is only inspired by that. 

“It’s because I have lived it. I have lived the life of having a mubaba, and I have a pinch of experience from living with wababas. I have tasted that life and I think it’s authentic for me to talk about it because I wouldn’t want other women to fall for the same tricks I did.”

The marketing consultant and actress has over 273,700 followers on TikTok and went viral for her mockery of Vera Sidika’s butt reduction procedure, which eventually turned out to be clout.

Jacob Ailet

When you visit his Facebook page, you see one of his detailed posts talking about his gradual rise to the top. Before his most famous book, Unplugged, he wrote six books while being unknown and in a financial case, barely breaking even.

Before all the hype, controversy, and vitriol that has followed Unplugged since its release in March 2022, way before that, Aliet was a young boy with an always curious mind. He was born in a polygamous home, the seventh of 11 children.

The Aliets called Eastleigh Section III home, just next to the Airforce Base. His was a beautiful as well as tragic childhood. He recalls, “My father was a violent man, an abusive man to all around him!”

“The beatings became like rain. You knew they were coming but there isn’t much you could do about it,” he revealed in an interview with the Business Daily.

From keeping journals in Form Three about the mundane stuff such as what he ate for breakfast and the type of punishment he got, Ailet rose to a personality many argue is giving Eric Amunga (Amerix) competition in terms of men rediscovering their masculinity, which he believes has been lost to a femicentric modern society.

He writes, “Why are women being told to ‘act like a lady and think like a man’ if masculinity is harmful?” Granted, it is a controversial subject in today’s ‘woke’ society and even Aliet himself thought it would be a non-starter.

Scathing reviews from one end of the spectrum coupled with an equally aggressive defence from his corner has seen Unplugged surprise many – himself included. It’s not just his book, nearly every detailed Facebook post he writes increases his popularity, especially in the modern generation.

Jacob Aliet, the author of 'Unplugged'. /BUSINESS DAILY