Top on the list was the search for Samantha – a sex doll developed with artificial intelligence (AI) by a Barcelona-based engineer Sergi Santos.
The month also saw Kenyans go online in search of KUCCPS 2018 intake which was the second trending item. This comes after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) opened its online application system for 2017 KCSE students to revise their choices for placement as Government-sponsored students to Universities and Colleges.
The Football Association Challenge Cup, officially known as the FA Cup, trended at number three as the 2018 edition of this annual knockout competition in men's domestic English football came to its 3rd and 4th round.
Trending at number four was Yvonne Wamalwa, widow of the late former Vice President Michael Wamalwa Kijana. Ms. Wamalwa passed on at at Nanyuki Cottage hospital on Sunday, 25th January and will be laid to rest on Saturday 3rd February in Milimani Estate, Trans Nzoia county.
Ms. Farida Karoney was the fifth trending item on Google following her nomination to the position of Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Lands. Ms. Karoney is a media and communications specialist who, prior to her appointment, served as the Royal Media Services’ Chief Operating Officer, and formerly the KTN Head of Editorial.
The search for Cabinet Secretaries became the sixth trending item on Google as Kenyans sought to know the full list of new nominees for the different government ministries.
Seventh on the list of top trending items in January was Nairobi Deputy Governor, Polycarp Igathe. Mr. Igathe had tendered his resignation on 12th January stating that he had failed to earn the trust of Governor Mike Sonko to enable him work at the county.
The Australian Open - a tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia was eighth trending search item on Google. The tournament, dubbed the Grand Slam of Asia / Pacific, saw Roger Federer receive a personalised honour after winning the tournament for the sixth time.
Closing the list of top ten trending Kenyan searches in January were gospel singer Kambua Manundu and human rights activist Ken Wafula, at position nine and ten respectively. Ms Kambua had earlier in the month been compelled by Kenyans online to apologize for grabbing the microphone from Inooro TV's Jeff Kuria,who was her co-emcee at the Royal Media Services' Vuka Mwaka Party held at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru. Interest in Ken Wafula was generated by his demise at an Eldoret hospital on January 17th. Ken Wafula was the Director at the Center for Human Rights and Democracy (CHRD).
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. Here are results for the most popular searches by Kenyans in the past week in descending order:
- Samantha
- KUCCPS 2018 intake
- FA cup
- Yvonne Wamalwa
- Farida Karoney
- Cabinet Secretaries
- Polycarp Igathe
- Australian open
- Kambua Manundu
- Ken Wafula
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