Category Archives: Twitter

Twitter Week: Top 10 (December 11)

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that is really nifty for doing mini-posts, forwards and other remarks that (are on any subject) and are maybe not worthy of a full blog post. Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter in a Dave Letterman top 10 format covering Bill gates in Nairobi, tiger woods gets (in)famous, Nigerian banking wars, Nairobi is becoming a tech conference hub, Fibre cable starts to take effect , and Kenyans are bad dressers but fast drinkers!

10 Get on twitter and new media before it’s too late – New Kenya airays rugby page seems to confirm @KenyaAirways is the legitimate KQ twitter a/c http://tinyurl.com/yjuzj92
– The Rwanda president @paulkagame on twitter? @gotissuez @ngeny @towmee there’s a link on paulkagame.com to @paulkagame; looks legit but poorly managed account that can improve
– R/t gtbankonline Guaranty Trust Bank launches NDANI their e-News Quarterly e-zine, http://ndani.gtbank.com/ #notlazycheapkenyanbank
– r/t @mkaigwa Dear Equity Bank, you’re the Safaricom of banks. Okthanksbye. #Dontmeanitinagoodway #ReasonwhyIhave2bankaccounts
– Musician Suzanne owiyo features in new #equitybank ‘ni member’ TV ad

9 Funny Money Tales: – the gambler who lost $127 million in Vegas http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125996714714577317.html (via @WhitlockJason)
– Nairobi star headlines today: Kalonzo denies link to 1 billion farm sale, Ruto to raise 8 billion campaign fund by 2012

8 Beer not clothes – New bar Another brand new bar in Nairobi, already full on day 2
– @rafikiz @jamesmurua is the new off-shoot of @Bacchus at old treasures langata rd
– r/t @towmee No offense to my Kenyan tweeps but at the airport i knew KQ had landed just by how dull the passengers are dressed #notsapuers

7. Kenyans government churns through money – r/t @alykhansatchu Kenya 2nd infrastructure bond oversubscribed 138% http://bit.ly/6205Lf surprised at insatiable appetite for GOK Paper. Lots of foreign interest at ~12% coupon @alykhansatchu as you said
– Bloat in Kenya government is mass employment and needless parastatals & committees-latest is ‘national tourism crisis management committee’

6. Top Kenyan business women – Nominate a top 40 woman under 40 to Business Daily http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/ top40under40_at_nation.co.ke D/L 16/12 to join @justdes you can run for re-election and I’m sure you’ll be re-nominated #top40

5. Tiger, Tiger, burning… – Tiger may have to bail as marriage costs more each year but his sponsors need a good family image http://tinyurl.com/ykg7lk7
– Only @TheOnion can tell it: “Investigators Still Piecing Together Weird-Ass Clues in Fucked-Up Tiger Woods Crash” http://bit.ly/8WGsZ8
– *Yawn* bill Clinton jokes being recycled into tiger woods jokes
– Tiger at #9 http://tinyurl.com/yl6cpmb but yet to be nabbed at on golf course unlike a famous Kenyan
– Go On Be A Tiger: Accenture (nee Arthur Andersen) advertisement http://tinyurl.com/ydz4un9

4. Bill in Town – #nairumor bill gates private jet is at Nairobi airport.
– @coldtusker he has 3 bombardier challengers

3. Kenya becoming tech conference central – Mobile Web East-Africa is coming to Nairobi – make sure you’re there! http://bit.ly/4po1zi (via @mato74)
– R/t There are some available seats at the @ushahidi user group meeting at Strathmore University. Come on by! #UshMeet

2 Cheaper fast Internet becoming a reality: – Now that there’s #fibre in Nairobi, i can finally watch the fascinating #TED Talks videos http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks
– ad in standard today – Kenya data networks say free Christmas wifi internet till January 4 http://www.kdn.co.ke (but nada at website)

1 Nigerian Bank Wars: – r/t Deadly news. Bank PHB of Nigeria reports 15-month loss of $2.5 billion: http://bit.ly/7xPwj7 .That is lethal (via @obionyeaso)
– @coldtusker 9-month pre-tax profit of all banks in kenya this year is about $500 million
– Nigerian bank wars via @obionyeaso another full page ad describing new mgt of bailed out banks as ‘undertakers’ http://bit.ly/4r2aIY

Twitter Week: Top 10 November 26

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that is really nifty for doing mini-posts, forwards and other remarks that (are on any subject) and are maybe not worthy of a full blog post. Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter in a Dave Letterman top 10 format :

10. Uganda Talks
– r/t @UgInsomniac Uganda Government gives ousted Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a new UG passport- http://bit.ly/7xfU8t/ (Kenya sold him wildlife)
– R/t @UgInsomniac MapSwitch Uganda boldly going where no banks have gone? http://mapinternational.net/. #ugandalug

9 Visa Place burns
– What’s that fire in upper hill area?
– @rookieke was visa place on fire, poor chicken
– @jwesonga shebeen great place, good staff. And in Kenya style, it will be packed tonight, if it survives neighbour fire

8. G4S (in) Security Jokes
– A g4s truck parked by road side in kile-any missing cash today?
– Poor #G4S Kenya, after the weekend cash loss, they may have to sweep key staff and revert to old name securicor
– @coldtusker @mwirigi #G4S not to blame, customers move $ for evasion, business & commodity payments etc to bypass currency restrictions
– @mwirigi looks like real world inside job-at either G4S, seller, buyer or bank. Off to watch reel-world #heat movie this aft
– Embattled security firm #G4S hires Gina Din Comm. to spruce up image (via Nairobi star)

7 Kenyan Banks
– #stanchart bank loan hawks out on Nairobi streets again. Also KCB and family bank
Kenya MFI Faulu acquires insurance broker http://www.faulukenya.com
– Will check out family bank offer of free Wi-fi for customers’ next week @jwesonga

6 Zain Kenya
– Seems Zain Kenya turned on their 3G network this weekend, super net speeds (Via @kahenya)
– Zain Q3 ‘Kenya is a highly competitive market with very low ARPU’ 2.1M customers (down 14%) revenue of $118m, loss of $28m (much improved)

5. World Cup 2010 business
– @AirFranceUS promoting World Cup fares (from Paris) to South Africa. Book early and save! http://ow.ly/FjUk
– r/t @cnbcafrica 2nite on Business 2010 exclusive license deal between FIFA & Nederberg Wine Estate to produce a 2010 FIFA World Cup wine range

4. Africa Aviation
– Delta Air has Ghana Nigeria Liberia Senegal Egypt but no Kenya plan http://airlineroute.net/200… (Via @airlineroute)
– Ethiopian Air CEO talks aircraft choice A350, B787 B777 operating from high altitude Addis http://tinyurl.com/yffkkpc (via @flightblogger)
– Kenya airways offering diploma in airline passenger services at a cost of $1950.
– R/t @aschonland delta passes half connectivity mark- 51% of aircraft fleet now have wi-fi

3. Safaricom Modem discount
– #Safaricom deal data push discount – modems now redeemed at just 2,000 bonga points, used to be 10,000 before @kafainbi @antoneosoul
– @Kafainbi website and posters say 10,000 but modems are now 2,000 bonga points – try Moi ave. or I&M for stocks

2. Kenyan Corporates on Twitter
– can the real Kenya airways please stand up!!.. @kenyaairways and @kenya_airways on twitter, is one a squatter or both? (Via @jwesonga)
– Following @samtwit and @coldTusker as they sort out which is the genuine #kenyaairways twitter account. They could both be fake or fans
– @samtwit confirmation should come from a twitter link at the #kenyaairways site. A smart aviation buff can fake a corporate twitter ac
– @KenyaAirways is the official #kenyaairways twitter account. (@coldtusker, @rafikikenya – via semi-official source)
– Finally an indigenous Kenyan bank on twitter @familybankkenya

1 Tusker brewed in Ireland
– Tusker now sold in 500ml cans, cost 85/= at uchumi. @archermishale get well, and catch up with @inexes

– The Tusker 500ml can is brewed in Ireland! EABL #Fail #godblessthierryhenry

10 Reasons You Lose Twitter Followers

While new media like twitter gets more popular each week in Kenya, I find myself adding more interesting friends, but only to unfollow some for different reasons. So I may have un-followed you recently because:

1. You send too many tweets in a few minutes, crowding my small nokia window; maybe you’re just in a foul mood, I may check and re-follow in a few days time
2. Too may re-tweets I want to know what you’re thinking, not just reading elsewhere
3. Your account has been taken over by a monster twitter e.g. wefollow mafiawars
4. Too many boring tweets (if you’ve nothing to say there’s no penalty for saying less)
5. Too many back & forth with another twitter who’s more interesting than you – one of you has to go you should take the argument sideways (chat, e-mail, DM)
6. You fit the profile of a stalker – you follow you follow Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and me and send me DM messages constantly
7. You take up a cause and hype it to death I may follow you after the cause/event/conference has passed
8. All activist, all the time #HIV #NGO #healtheworld #savethe kids #savethechimps
9. If you fit the profile of a spammer or send lethal links
10. u ryt gbrsh lk ths – there’s actually a proper abbreviations dictionary, but its’ much easier to just write complete words

So unlike with facebook, I can’t turn off your updates (or can I?) so I probably un-followed you for one of these reasons.

Week on Twitter: September 22

Another re-cap of a week full of Twitter – @bankelele posts which included issues like Olympia prepares for shareholders then postpone AGM, a skunkworks forum and a fibre summit are coming to Nairobi this week, but how is the fibre being used in government? There’s a new newspaper from the government of Kenya and a new magazine from EAM. Charterhouse bank may re-open while PTA bank has a silent bond, Kenya Airways flies to Ndola while Emirates air starts selling world cup 2010 packages, and finally twitter matures by enabling medical advice for Kahenya, drawing in the US ambassador to Kenya and also by helping Stanbic Bank improve customer service

– East Africa Fibre Summit – in Kenya next week http://www.aitecafrica.com/…
Emirates Air starts selling 2010 World Cup South Africa Packages http://tinyurl.com/pbj7e3 (where’s SAA, @kenyaairways, Ethiopian?)
New GoK newspaper title Kenya Today; first issue has bullet trains, Brigadier Ali, SMEs, Idi Amin, MJ, and rants about parliamentary dictatorship & NYTimes writers – all at a cost of Kshs 30/=
– @SupremeGREAM I’d be very surprised if Charterhouse Bank reopens. It will be like re-licensing Triton; @kachwanya is correct, something is smoking at Charterhouse http://bit.ly/3lk8d2
– R/T @kaboro Skunkworks Tech & Entrepreneur Forum, 29Sep Speakers: Liko Agosta, Verviant, Joshua Wanyama, Pamoja, Alex Gakuru.
– Help @kahenya with medical advice http://bit.ly/1YDJ3F #rhabdomyolysis
– @RookieKE CFA one very tough exam, it has driven some very bright professionals up the wall. CFA pass rates Level I: 46% Level II: 41% Level III: 49% @kainvestor http://tinyurl.com/mwegha i salute those who have tried it
– Tiomin say they have made progress with Canadian and Chinese investors on #kwale. Wait till they get to environment minister #michuki
– Kenya government has asked all ministries/agencies to email copies of procurement tenders – to be compiled at a portal http://www.tenders.go.ke/ ; also http://www.tandaa.co.ke/ which is “all about Kenyan content” has NO KENYAN CONTENT! Just Anheuser Busch, French news, love in Warsaw…
– @kenyaairways 44th destination launch flight lands in Ndola #Zambia http://bit.ly/hMFk5
– Barclays waives joining fee for gold (6K) & classic (3k) cards http://www.barclays.com/afr… #youllpaysomehow @coldtusker I have no credit card, I can usually tap family or friends #TIA
– R/t @joosi @davos World Economic Forum (WEF) to be in Tanzania May ’10. Nairobi star said Kofi Annan steered it away from Kenya’s bad leadership
–
#Newshot and #bullseye are not too funny: seems Marende may have banned use of parliamentary clips for satire. Did Njoki spell stakeholder as steakholder in her protest letter? #NTV
– Sunday nation writes about US ambassador on twitter @usamb4reform, but twitter yet to be taken up keenly in Kenya unlike facebook
– Nairobi water company appoints 4 debt collection agencies
– PTA Bank has a $21 million 14% bond in Uganda closing Oct 2. Pity they stopped updating their website http://www.ptabank.org
– New women’s magazine called Move out this week from EAM, costs just Kshs. 80 ($1) http://www.drum.co.ke/node/… was true love too pricey for the ladies?
– Twitter improves bank service R/T @coldtusker Thanks to @StandardBankGrp I got a call from CFCStanbic Kenya re: my problems at the bank
– R/t @kainvestor Kenya Ministry of Water office connected to fibre cable! But nobody knows what do with it…just watching movies online.

Olympia CEO comments South Africa has been a real challenge, but we still believe in the market M Matu http://tinyurl.com/klheg7 ; later Olympiacapital muddle continues, now AGM postponed to 2nd-oct cause delayed fin statement dispatch

Week on Twitter (September 11)

Another re-cap of a week full of Twitter – @bankelele posts which included issues like – more innovative loans from Equity Bank, why do Kenyan companies make such large PDFs? The fibre cable has reached Mandera in remote Northern Kenya, but piped water is yet to get there, police dogs sniff grass, Zimbabwe ministers text like teenagers, how to get through to safaricom’s notoriously inaccessible customer service, mobile companies know how to keep Kenyan ministers happy, Kenyans laugh at their failings, pre-paid internet gets cheaper, another bank to list at the Nairobi stock exchange while another joins twitter, more awards for women, more jobs at the central bank of Kenya, and the UNEP toys with Kenya

– @TChenya @KumekuchaChris was just at Equity Bank; amazed they have loans for water tanks http://bit.ly/AoYg4
– This #Safaricom portal is going to be the Kenya borg http://portal.safaricom.com…
– Do cops favour their own matatus, leading to traffic jams for other motorists? http://www.coastweek.com/32…
– R/T @baldaufji #Zimbabwe minister text messages leaked http://bit.ly/2KkUIx U c the strait jacket vakuru [old man] is being given 2 wear
– The koinange family starts development of the parking lot next to kencom Nairobi
– Just registered to get my Safaricom dividend by cellphone m-pesa in November @saitonne m-pesa dividend registration ongoing around the country till 30 September, mostly at supermarkets – which one is near you?
– Cold call from a bank offering an unsecured personal loan at 24%!
– @egm_photo @jmugambi its soooo wrong for fibre cable to reach mandera before piped water!
– Gabon09 election resembles kenya08 but little concern in Kenya
– #TPF3 Tanzania is 0-2: EABL endears itself to that beer market
– (Sad to hear) R/t @estoni #samburu insecurity rife, tourist vans attacked, some travel companies are canceling Kenya safaris
– @kainvestor the most blatant on-going copy cat is ‘citi shuttle’ aping ‘citi hoppa’ with same green, same routes #thuo should do something
– (i) #shagslife a police dog from anti-stock theft unit just tracked down some stolen bales of hay to a nearby compound (ii) Hay and fencing was ‘stolen’ from farm of local MP last night. @coldtusker, this police lassie did an impressive job over many KM
– More bank for twitter @Standardbankgrp the official account for #stanbic (found at @kainvestor)
– R/t @saitonne are you stuck trying to call #Safaricom customer care 100 number? Try adding some zero’s and no’s e.g. 1000055
– R/t @kachwanya Yu to launch money transfer service on October 1. (Now where’s telkom, been almost 5 years in the making?)
– Watching morning news – #Safaricom seem to trend #CSR projects to home area of sitting communication minister
– Family bank march to listing at Nairobi stock ex @nsekenya on with plans for share split and rights issue pending approval
– you know you’re Kenyan goes viral (i) #youknowyourekenyan when you understand (and agree with) Francis atwoli (ii) #youknowyourekenyan cause your “najivunia kuwa mkenya” cap is made in china

– NHC rescinds sale of houses to 102 #madaraka estate residents (for non-payment?) while NSSF threatens to repossess some tassia-embakasi plots
– @ kainvestor how do Kenyan corporations create such huge huge PDF? E.g. quarterlies from NSE site (i) Mabati Rolling Mills half year results (large PDF) http://tinyurl.com/ldyk22 (ii) @kainvestor #KenGenPIBO information memorandum dead D link on site at http://www.kengen.co.ke/PIBO/
– Nominate an African woman achiever for a Graca Machel award http://www.civicus.org/media/Graca_Machel_Initiative_Call.pdf D/L 30/9
– R/T @gishungwa @shiroh: Central bank of Kenya is hiring http://tinyurl.com/lu6bbo
– @inexes @shiroh while standard chartered will take divas to South Africa for shopping for $1,000, family bank has week-long trip in October for business customers for $2,000
– Eh @intelligensia, plans underway to (dredge &) raise the water level of masinga dam by 1.5 metres
– New Zain Kenya unlimited pre-paid internet bundles costing $3 per day, or $30 per month
– NTV’s Rita Tinina on GoK begging UNEP for Mau Cash http://bit.ly/2m8BUu (look for a toy truck near end of vid)