Recent elections in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa have exhibited the rise in political significance of erstwhile little-known web-literate and tech-savvy individuals in media-politics ecologies that were previously mainly influenced by mainstream media practitioners such as newspaper commentators. These social media influencers have been deployed by political parties as part of overall strategies that undermine public sphere ideals as online spaces get ‘colonised’ by political camps. Through archive reviews and interviews with bloggers, politicians and other selected key players, this paper examines how new media have transformed political campaigns in these countries. Taking into consideration digital activist and digital opportunist approaches, this paper examines how developments in Kenya reflect or differ from other major African countries, especially Nigeria and South Africa. The argument here is for an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary transformation of political campaigns, given that socio-economic and political factors that pre-date the digital era still largely determine electoral conduct and outcomes in these countries.