Nairobi — Africa has the lowest number of internet users in the world, a problem that has prevented its inhabitants from enjoying the benefits of digital media.

Participants at the Pan African Media Conference heard that the continent's internet penetration was a meager four percent, with the rest of the world taking the lion's share of 96 percent.

Google Kenya Business Development Manager, Isis Nyongó, told a roundtable discussion on new media that there was need to increase Africa's internet penetration to allow more people benefit from the use of internet.

"There is need more investment in technology to make internet affordable and accessible," Ms Nyongó said on Friday at a session entitled 'The possibilities, limits and risks offered by blogs, short message service and social networks'.

Ms Nyongó said Google's objective was to help increase internet usage by providing products tailored for the African market.

The official cited the translation of data into several African languages like Swahili, Zulu and Afrikaans, as one of the moves by the technology giant aimed at increasing internet penetration.

According to the latest research on the world's internet usage compiled by technology start-up Internet World Stats, there are about 63.4million users, representing 6.8 percent of the total population.

Egypt tops Africa's list of internet users, with about 12.6million of its population hooked on the net, followed by Nigeria with 11 million, Morocco (10.3 million), Sudan (3.8million), Algeria (3.5million) and Kenya (3.5million).

Ms Nyongó said Kenya was ahead in the East African region on internet usage, adding that the media companies had also contributed positively in developing interest on digital media.

The Nation Media group was cited as one of the market leaders in the use of the technology in the region. Apart from establishing websites from its different publications in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the Nation also uses short message service (SMS), Facebook and Twitter in disseminating information.

Nation Television Kenya and Nation Television Uganda can also be accessed on the popular Google-owned video website, You Tube.

Daudi Were, a local based blogger, said the interest in the internet as an alternative form of communication, increased tremendously during and after the infamous post-election violence in 2007.

"Many Kenyans used the internet to express their frustrations and comment on the on-goings in the country, when peace was becoming elusive and after the signing of the National Accord," said Mr Were who owns the mental acrobatics blog.

Mr Were said bloggers complemented the mainstream media in disseminating information during the post election violence as there were too much rumours and misinformation.

"Bloggers posted information that some of the mainstream media failed to cover or had reservations publicizing because of various reasons," he added.

Participants, however cautioned internet users not to take all information appearing on blogs as gospel truth, adding that verification was of outmost importance.

Many cited the American case, where the number of blogs owned by extremists, spreading lies and hatred, had increased sharply since Barack Obama became the first African American President of the United States.

"The problem is that some bloggers do not have much respect for media ethics and that is why the public should be cautious about them. Some are only there to propagate hidden agendas," Mr Were added.

However, he quickly added there were many genuine bloggers who do their work professionally.

Ms Nyongó commended the Kenyan government and investors in the technology industry for encouraging the use of the internet, adding that one can even buy Kenyan products on-line.

Participants also noted that technology, mainly mobile phones, had helped break the generation gap barrier by easing communication between the younger and the older generation.

"It is now common to find grandchildren communicating with their grandparents quite often, a case that was rare in the pre-mobile phone era," said Were.

The two urged bloggers and the mainstream media to work together in informing, entertaining and educating the public.

"The mainstream media and bloggers are not in competition they are all there for the good of the public," Mr Were added.

He said social networks like Facebook and Twitter were becoming major tools of communication in Kenya, adding that they could no longer be ignored by players in the media industry.

The Pan African Conference, part of the Nation Media Group's golden jubilee celebrations, ends on Friday.