TV girl Kobi Kihara, Bobi Wine, riparian land top August Goggle search
Former TV host Kobi Kihara, Ugandan MP Robert Kyagulanyi and riparian land were among the most searched items in the month of August, according to Google.
Google on Monday released a list of top trending searches that also revealed an increasing appetite by Kenyans for sports betting on platforms such as Sportpesa, betpawa, betika, betin.
Football came in the second position as the most searched item as Kenyans searched for EPL (English Premier League) fixtures, matches and real time scores. Some of the most searched matches included Chelsea vs Arsenal, Arsenal vs Man City and Chelsea vs Man City.
POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE
Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who died on August 18 after a short illness, came in third. Mr Annan is fondly remembered in Kenya after he brokered a peace deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, which ended post-election turmoil in 2008.
In fourth place was Robert Kyagulanyi , the Ugandan musician turned politician popularly known as Bobi Wine who was recently incarcerated for more than a week after being accused of treason.
Kenyans also searched about the weather as the unprecedented cold season in many parts of the country continues.
Riparian land was the sixth trending item on Google, many Kenyans seemingly hearing it for the first time after the Nairobi County government demolished several commercial properties said to have been built close to river beds.
TV girl Kobi Kihara also dominated the top searches for August, at seventh position. She trended for all the wrong reasons after Kenyans discovered that she had lifted dozens of images from the internet and posted them on her Instagram page claiming they were her own creations.
She later deleted several images from her account before disabling her social media accounts altogether.
‘QUEEN OF SOUL’
Eighth on the list was deceased American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin, who died on 16 August 2018 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer. Ms Franklin was popularly known as “The Queen of Soul” after her songs topped American charts for decades. She is remembered for hit songs such as ‘Respect’, ‘Natural Woman’, among many other songs.
At position nine was Asbel Kiprop, the three-time 1,500m world champion who was recently involved in a public love triangle. A video clip of the athlete in a compromising position with a woman, said to be married, made rounds on social media platforms stirring public controversy about the athlete.
Closing the list of top ten Kenyan trending searches in August was former US Senator John McCain who died on August 25. He was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War after he was captured and held for several years.
Google Search Trends is a publicly available tool that indicates search patterns over a period of time and shows the clusters of searches that made it to the weekly trending searches in the country.