Twitter has granted dedicated hashflags to be used during the 2017 Kenyan elections to drive social conversations on the platform.

"Join the conversation around the Kenyan election and unlock the special emoji by using #electionske and #electionske2017," tweeted the social media's 'Twitter Government' account earlier today.

The specialised form of hashtag, known as a 'hashflag' also has an accompanying small image (flag). The small images appear after a #hashtag and are enabled on Twitter for specific occasions or events. These are more commonly referred to as custom Twitter Emojis.

This as Kenya holds its second general elections during the age of social media and and also in the midst of mounting speculation that it could even be banned due to an increased amount of fake news.

The last elections in the country were held in 2013 and according to tech news Kenya, the relative population active on social media was way smaller than what it currently is. The country has an estimated 2 million Kenyans on Twitter.

"We have millions of people who have accounts with WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter and they are airing their thoughts about the impending elections on these platforms," reports tech news Kenya.

"Twitter is one of those networks that are designed as a forum so that people can discuss freely what is currently happening in the world. The company noticed that the real time debates coupled with hashtags is one of their biggest assets since it generates a lot of engagement and that is why they started the hashflag program."

The two hashflags are also meant to allow other international countries to follow developments in Kenya during the period.

According to tech news Kenya, people from other countries will be following the events surrounding the election, "you can bet from such dedicated hashtags, and Twitter might even reveal the analytics from the hashtags after the elections."