As Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Swahili presenter Salim Kikeke's social media accounts hit over a million followers, he considers the reasons why there's a growing interest in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's output across the continent.
It has happened - I have passed THE milestone: over one million people now follow me on my Facebook page. That's over one million connections with Kiswahili-speakers from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda Burundi and DRC. This - in addition to over 138,000 people following me on Instagram and over 66,000 - on Twitter. Just as I write these lines, I know that these numbers are also growing very quickly, and the bigger the number, the quicker it grows.
How did this one-million-and-counting happen? What about the people behind the numbers?
Soon after I started my Facebook page in 2012, I was joined by a couple of thousand followers - most of them had known me as presenter of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Swahili radio programmes, especially our flagship Dira ya Dunia.
When, in August 2012, I started presenting the TV programme of the same name, the numbers just shot up. As I hit 5,000 fans on Facebook, I had to start a new fan page, thinking, surely this will see me get the most I can hope for - say, 10,000 followers. And here I am three years later - a million plus. Really?
The popularity of Dira ya Dunia is certainly the main reason why people are connecting with me on social media: the programme's weekly viewership grew from 2.3 million in 2014 to nearly 7 million in 2015. Thousands watch it on my Facebook page and on my Youtube channel.
The other factor is, of course, the ever-growing use of digital media in the main Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Swahili territories - Tanzania, Kenya, DR Congo. With this growth, the way people consume news and information is also transforming.
As they watch Dira ya Dunia on the TV channels in the region and online, our viewers have the urge, the need to engage with us, presenters and journalists. Granted, they are interested in my personal views, and when I started the Facebook fan page four years ago, I would normally share personal experiences, pictures, as well as interesting links, mainly from . They wanted (and still do) to know more about my work as a journalist and a TV presenter, the challenges I face, the advice I can offer if they were to choose that particular profession.
But I quickly saw that, as a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ journalist, I am someone who they trust to bring them credible, reliable reports about the region, putting the events there in the global context - and bringing in the global news that especially resonate with these countries. I could see a hunger for information in Kiswahili. And preferably in short, crisp bits.
Many of the people who came to my Facebook page certainly had been attracted by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Swahili reporting. When the service covered the elections in Kenya in 2013 and even more so, the Tanzania elections in 2015, it was very much the social media, especially Facebook, that channeled our latest news in text and short videos, keeping these audiences across key developments – and getting their views on the issues we cover.
Discussions flare every week when we engage with our listeners across the region on our popular weekend football programme, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Ulimwengu wa Soka. Football fans get a chance to talk about their favourite English Premier League club while we do a live football commentary. We also get to read out their comments live on air. Every weekday, we would ask the audience for their thoughts and opinions about a particular story that we have on Dira ya Dunia on TV on that particular day, and some of the comments end up being read out live during our TV broadcast.
On my social-media accounts, my followers share their interests, have their say on issues in the news - from social and economic issues to (very much so) sports and (especially) football - (above all) the English Premier League which has a huge fan base in East and Central Africa as, in fact, the rest of the continent.
As a powerful way of reaching out to, and keeping, new, massive audiences, social media engagements are a vital element of what I do every day as a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ journalist. But most importantly, it is this living, immediate connection with the individual, the person - any one of the hundreds of thousands - who wants to connect with me, that makes this platform so amazing. The kind of relationship it allows us to forge with our audience is unique and precious.
As I reach this milestone, I thank each one of my fans, my followers, with all my heart. Thank you for making me part of your day. Thank you for all the messages, thank you for sharing your news, your views, your lives with me - and through me, with the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. Thank you for being one in a million.
Salim Kikeke, presenter of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Swahili TV's Dira ya Dunia
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