Kenyan social media users are increasingly turning to Facebook, making it the country’s most popular social media platform for 2025, surpassing TikTok, which led the rankings in 2024.
Recent data from Cloudflare, a web traffic monitoring company, shows that Facebook’s rise is due to its focus on short videos and personalized content, attracting more users back to the platform. Instagram and WhatsApp have also gained popularity, overtaking Microsoft and YouTube, which previously held fourth and fifth positions.
TikTok, launched globally in 2018, became extremely popular in Kenya during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to viral challenges and short videos from local creators. In response, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, introduced Reels on Instagram in 2020 and later on Facebook itself. Reels, presented in a full-screen vertical format like TikTok, allow users to see videos from accounts they do not follow, tailored to their interests. This algorithm-driven content has helped boost user engagement.
Meanwhile, X (formerly Twitter) has lost popularity, dropping out of Kenya’s top 10 social media platforms. Snapchat is now performing better than X, ranking after Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Globally, Google continues to dominate overall internet traffic, followed by Facebook and Apple. TikTok has fallen from fourth to eighth place in Kenya, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become the most widely used generative AI platform in the country. Other popular AI platforms include QuillBot, GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek, and Windsurf AI. OpenAI also ranks among Kenya’s top search engines for the first time.
The shift in social media preferences reflects the growing importance of short video content and personalized algorithms in keeping users engaged, as platforms adapt to changing trends and digital behavior in Kenya.
