Social Media: The Age of "Black twitter"
Wilson and Chock discussed in their article "New Voices on the Net" how basic access to computers and the Internet continues to be structured on lines of social inequality. Although racial minority groups are more than likely not to have internet access compared to non-Hispanic Whites, there is still proof that race can still shape young people's use of the internet. For example, Black Twitter.
"Black twitter?" Since when was Twitter a Black thing, you ask? Unofficially for a while now.
According to the Pew's Internet and American Life Project study, "Teens, Social Media, and Privacy,” Twitter is the preferred social network of African-American teens compared to white teens; 39 percent of African-American teens reported using Twitter while only 23 percent of white teens preferred it, (McDonnell-Smith).
Black Twitter is incredibly important for the African American community for several reasons. The first, it promotes inclusion. The realm of Black Twitter is open to African Americans and Afro-Cubans, to both the wealthy and the poor, to those who went to a historically Black college or university and to those who went to predominately White institutions. The only requirement if knowledge of the Black experience. “It’s a bunch of people like me. Black people in major cities and it’s basically six degrees of separation. I might not know you, but I might have a friend of a friend of a friend who does," said writer Michael Arceneaux.
Black Twitter has also become a social force to be reckoned with. For example, Justine Sacco, the PR executive who jokingly tweeted about AIDS and inspired the worldwide trending topic #HasJustineLandedYet. Black Twitter was also very vocal about the Paula Deen incident and the George Zimmerman trial and verdict. Jamilah Lemieux, digital news and life editor for Ebony magazine told the Washington Post: “You see the dozens being played on Twitter. You see people looking out for one another. Someone’s child is missing, someone’s looking for a job, someone’s looking for an apartment. Then there’s some minor injustice that takes place: a journalist or a major outlet says something terribly offensive, we’re on the attack. Or there’s a grave injustice like Trayvon Martin’s murder or the death of Renisha McBride, we’re all there,” (Washington Post).
Why is Black Twitter so important? I agree with Washington Post writer Soraya Nadia McDonald: "Perhaps the most significant contribution of Black Twitter is that it increases visibility of black people online, and in doing so, dismantles the idea that white is standard and everything else is 'other.' It’s a radical demand for acceptance by simply existing — or sometimes dominating — in a space and being yourself, without apology or explanation." (Washington Post).
Sources:
Study Shows Black Teens Use Social Media Differently Than Whites
Washington Post Article on Black Twitter
"Black twitter?" Since when was Twitter a Black thing, you ask? Unofficially for a while now.
According to the Pew's Internet and American Life Project study, "Teens, Social Media, and Privacy,” Twitter is the preferred social network of African-American teens compared to white teens; 39 percent of African-American teens reported using Twitter while only 23 percent of white teens preferred it, (McDonnell-Smith).
Black Twitter is incredibly important for the African American community for several reasons. The first, it promotes inclusion. The realm of Black Twitter is open to African Americans and Afro-Cubans, to both the wealthy and the poor, to those who went to a historically Black college or university and to those who went to predominately White institutions. The only requirement if knowledge of the Black experience. “It’s a bunch of people like me. Black people in major cities and it’s basically six degrees of separation. I might not know you, but I might have a friend of a friend of a friend who does," said writer Michael Arceneaux.
Black Twitter has also become a social force to be reckoned with. For example, Justine Sacco, the PR executive who jokingly tweeted about AIDS and inspired the worldwide trending topic #HasJustineLandedYet. Black Twitter was also very vocal about the Paula Deen incident and the George Zimmerman trial and verdict. Jamilah Lemieux, digital news and life editor for Ebony magazine told the Washington Post: “You see the dozens being played on Twitter. You see people looking out for one another. Someone’s child is missing, someone’s looking for a job, someone’s looking for an apartment. Then there’s some minor injustice that takes place: a journalist or a major outlet says something terribly offensive, we’re on the attack. Or there’s a grave injustice like Trayvon Martin’s murder or the death of Renisha McBride, we’re all there,” (Washington Post).
Why is Black Twitter so important? I agree with Washington Post writer Soraya Nadia McDonald: "Perhaps the most significant contribution of Black Twitter is that it increases visibility of black people online, and in doing so, dismantles the idea that white is standard and everything else is 'other.' It’s a radical demand for acceptance by simply existing — or sometimes dominating — in a space and being yourself, without apology or explanation." (Washington Post).
Sources:
Study Shows Black Teens Use Social Media Differently Than Whites
Washington Post Article on Black Twitter