Black Twitter is a movement and an online culture of intelligent black individuals, trendsetters, and youthful activist giving light to issues that previously would have not been on mainstream media. This online culture has brought a new wave of activism in which hashtag campaigns have been brought to a wide national attention. Twitter has provided a platform for black people to speak their voices and concerns freely, as before, the only way they could voice their opinion was if they had money. Black Twitter has started hashtag campaigns such as the Black Lives Matter movement, and many others which have gained national attention. The Black Lives Matter movement has been revolved around social media as its main platforms because it serves as a live source of information. The movement has faced much backlash with counter online protest such as All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, and they have deemed black people as aggressors or whiners. The incivility that is believed to be founded with Black Twitter is not a form of unsociable behavior, rather its a form of expression that allows black people’s voices to be heard. Black Twitter has been impactful to society by allowing people to express themselves by bringing black issues to national attention, and allowing people to correctly criticize others for their racial discriminatory acts.
Black Twitter is known as an online culture of black people that share a common culture and interest in certain issues and discussing definitive material with a black frame of reference. These black Twitter users are a part of an active online community that engage in real time conversations about issues or entertainment. A quote by Meredith Clark, a professor at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, researching the framework for Black Twitter states, “Any descriptor that you can use to talk about a group of people applies to Black Twitter. So when people get together and they talk around a specific topic you have diversity within those conversational circles” (Clark). The quote from Clark represents how within the black community, it is very diverse with a variety of different descriptors. This shows that the conversations includes a diverse range of black people such as being gay, feminist, or trans and many more. The diversity shows that the issue being discussed is concerning for everyone that is black, not to just one specific group.
One issue that is posed for Black Twitter by author, Stereo Williams states, “And that in and of itself is a powerful resource—but it doesn’t change the fact that the platforms that have the widest reach are still virtually ignoring a wealth of black talent and creativity while pilfering from that very same well” (Williams). From this excerpt, Williams is stating how big media companies recognize the force of Black Twitter’s influence, but still steal from it without devoting time to that influence directly. Big media companies are using influences from Black Twitter to make monetary gain and they are not giving the correct accreditation to where they are receiving their information from, rather they state they have received it from ‘Twitter’. To add on, Williams states, “But with so many looking to tell black stories and milk black cool, it’s perfectly appropriate and more than necessary for there to be a push for some of that black power and black influence to be reflected in the credits and on the masthead” (Williams). In concluding his article, Williams is pushing for black stories and originators of influences to be represented in big media companies. He states how these companies are already exploiting black possessions, so they should accredit the right authors. Big media companies stealing from Black Twitter complicates the incivility of black people being able to express their voices. These companies are silencing their voices, which is a civil rights issue. Though they are given a platform to express themselves, they still are being taken advantage of in the broad spectrum of national news.
One importance of Black Twitter is its power of being a source of information and bringing news to widespread attention. The importance of being a source of information and news is to bring light to certain issues and topics that are ignored by media companies. Most of Black Twitter revolves around the hashtags and the trending topics that are generated. In an interview, “The Truth About Black Twitter” with Meredith Clark interviewed by Donovan Ramsey touches on the subject of hashtags and trending topics. Answering a question on this cultural competence being needed, Clarke states, “To understand some of them, and I stress “some,” you have to understand African-American vernacular English. To understand others, you need to have historical perspective on the issue. And so a lot of that rises out of a common experience of living as a black person, and specifically to living as a black person in the United States” (Clark). In this except, Clarke explains how in certain discussions, someone will need to have a black cultural background to understand the conversation being discussed, or sometimes a historical understanding of the issue. The importance of these conversations on Twitter are creating a safe place to discuss with others black people may not even know, but having a cultural connection with them. This gives users an online empathetic feelings towards one another knowing that someone on the other side of the country could understand what they feel.
One important part of these hashtags and trending topics is for the use of political activism. A main protest that stemmed directly out of Black Twitter is the Black Lives Matter movement. This movement is pushing against violence and systematic racism towards black people which specifically relies on social media for their platform. In an article, “Social Media Helps Black Lives Matter Fight the Power” by Bijan Stephan, he states on Black Lives Matter movement, “Social media could serve as a source of live, raw information. It could summon people to the streets and coordinate their movements in real time. And it could swiftly push back against spurious media narratives with the force of a few thousand retweets” (Stephan). From this excerpt, Stephan further extends how the power of Twitter is the engine for this movement. This is important for activists to organize and being able to have the word spread quickly on their plans to organize. For example, from “Is Twitter the Underground Railroad for Activism?” By Feminista Jones, states “In the wake of George Zimmerman’s July 13 acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Twitter became a space where people could not only express their anger, disappointment and grief, but also work together to organize grassroots rallies and protests” (Jones). This example extends on the idea of incivility being a form of expression by allowing people to voice their feelings, but to also be able to organize and rally together. The ability to voice grievances and be able to rally protest is important for black people as these are freedoms that were once not accessible and were fought for. Speaking on the accomplishments of the movement, Bijan Stephan states, “It helped secure the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol. It helped pressure the federal government to investigate police practices in Ferguson and Baltimore. It has successfully pushed Democratic presidential contenders to come forward with policy proposals on the issues that specifically concern black people in America” (Stephan). The Black Lives Matter movement through protesting in communities and online have made some progress in making reform. The power of Black Twitter allows this news to come to attention, and by many people discussing on an issue, it then starts to become more widespread across the nation. Information that was once overlooked by big media companies is now being recognized by the numerous discussions being held on Twitter about a certain issue.
In addition, another impact of Black Twitter is that they use their platform to confront and criticize people for their ‘racial tone deafness’. The power of Black Twitter to confront and criticize people for their racial tone deafness is important because this is valid criticism to air grievances and insist on action. For example, from Feminista Jones, she states, “Paula Deen, who recently came under fire for using racial slurs and allegedly creating a hostile work environment for employees of color, experienced the power of black Twitter users who raised awareness about the lawsuit against her” (Jones). Users not only directed their rage toward her, but also contacted Food Network and other companies that supported her products, and Deen eventually lost her show on Food Network and twelve other businesses that supported her products. Another example is of a Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner, where they appropriate a Black Lives Matter protest and Kendall then breaks the race barrier to hand a police officer a Pepsi for the crowd to cheer at the end. After immediate backlash and criticism within minutes, Pepsi removed the commercial and stated, “Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are pulling the content and halting any further rollout”. The removal of the commercial demonstrated the true force of Black Twitter. The commercial was removed shortly after it was posted, and this exemplifies the speed of how fast problems that Black Twitter can spread. There has also been numerous cases where people who have committed some racial act, users have rallied together criticizing them in the comments and also going even further to calling their jobs or schools. Companies have fired people for racial discrimination that was posted to their social media accounts, and schools have also suspended or expelled students for racial discrimination. Black Twitter has been criticized as ‘race baiters’ who wait to criticize people for saying the wrong thing, or rallying together to get someone fired from their job or expelled from their school. These criticisms are authentic because black people are addressing their grievances and are trying to fight this systematic racism. One prominent activist in Black Twitter and the Black Lives Matter movement, DeRay Mckesson tweeted, “People call me a "race baiter" as if I made up racism & white supremacy. We're just talking about it, exposing it, and fighting it” (Mckesson). Critiquing people for their discriminatory acts is valid, and is a fight to combat the racism in the U.S to demonstrate that it is wrong and will not be tolerated.
In essence, Black Twitter is where black people can vent frustrations, discuss the causes they believe in, and bring these conversations to national attention. Black Twitter has proven to be a creative to challenge and discuss inequality and culture. Its an influence that is often times taken advantage of by media companies, but still remains to stay strong. It has caused political changes through its activism, and has brought awareness to issues that are going on in this online cultural community. Black Twitter is not a force to be reckoned with.