Kenyans are pulling back on online visibility, with me.ke subdomain registrations dropping by 24.6% in Q4 2024. According to Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), me.ke personal website and email registrations fell from 4,590 to 3,426 between October and December.

Domain Preferences Shifting

While personal website registrations declined, overall .KE domain users grew by 1.3% to 108,154. This was driven by:

  • .co.ke, .ke, and sc.ke subdomains with growth from businesses, NGOs and educational institutions

  • Higher education institutions, lower and middle-level institutions showed significant uptake in domain registrations

But ne.ke subdomain, used for personal websites and email, recorded minimal growth with only 3 new users in the quarter.

Cyber Threats May Be the Cause

The decline in personal websites coincides with a 27.2% rise in cyber threats to 840.9 million in Q4 2024. This surge saw the National KE-CIRT/CC issue 11.6 million security advisories, a 20.9% increase from the previous quarter.

Reasons for the Drop in Personal Websites

  1. Cybersecurity Concerns – The rise in cyber threats may have scared off individuals from having personal websites.

  2. Shift to social media & Platforms – Many professionals are now on LinkedIn, Medium and personal blogs on hosted platforms and don’t need dedicated personal domains.

  3. Domain Renewal Costs – Maintenance costs of personal websites could also be a factor, especially for non-commercial users.

The Future of Personal Websites in Kenya

Despite the overall growth of .KE domain, the decline in me.ke and slow uptake of ne.ke suggests personal branding is shifting. With rising cyber threats, enhanced digital security and affordable domain management solutions may be needed to reverse the trend.