The Kenyan government has proactively embraced social media in a bid to connect with Kenyans on the digital platform. They have several verified accounts on Twitter and Facebook of various government departments, agencies and key people in these departments.
Telegram Messenger is only 3 years old and it has managed to accrue over 100 million active users and it is considered as an alternative to WhatsApp, which has over 10 times its active user base. However, it is still big in its own right and the government has decided to join the chatting network. The move was announced by the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit which is tasked as being the official government communication on the digital front.
Starting this morning,the Presidency and GOK have joined Telegram. For the latest Info join us on https://t.co/jHKk3hGwxb #CommunicatingGOK
— PSCU Kenya Digital (@PSCU_Digital) May 30, 2016
The new account is actually a Telegram Channel which anyone can open to convey specific information to your subscribers. The Telegram channel is rightly named after the department which focuses on delivering information from the President and the government.
Currently, the Telegram channel has gained 392 members with the first post being posted at 5:56am. The great thing about the move to open the channel is that they are free to write a press release that is longer than what they are possible when compared to Twitter, which has a limit of 140 characters.
Ignoring the obvious fact that there is still the duplication of content across the various PSCU accounts, it is still commendable they have opened these accounts to reach as many people as possible. Last year, they promised that they will ramp up its social media presence after doing research of their social media use across the various government departments and this is one move to remedy that.
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