Difference between revisions of "Black Twitter"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
Black Twitter, is an online community that leverages the social platform Twitter to come together to discuss and share race related messages with one another. Twitter, which was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone allows users to “tweet” small short messages and include the use of hashtags to classify and group content together. Black Twitter has leveraged Twitter’s hashtag functionality to create hashtags specific to their community. Users are able to create community specific content to construct a “new cultural narrative, image, and definition” of Black identity. Black Twitter is the most active when race-related issues occur and there is little to no public reaction to the event. A prominent example is the fatal killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri which spiked national online activism through the Black community on Twitter aided by the use of hashtags like #handsupdontshoot, #blacklivesmatter, and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. Black Twitter also comes together to watch and discuss TV shows poke fun about their race through community specific memes and racialized hashtags. | Black Twitter, is an online community that leverages the social platform Twitter to come together to discuss and share race related messages with one another. Twitter, which was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone allows users to “tweet” small short messages and include the use of hashtags to classify and group content together. Black Twitter has leveraged Twitter’s hashtag functionality to create hashtags specific to their community. Users are able to create community specific content to construct a “new cultural narrative, image, and definition” of Black identity. Black Twitter is the most active when race-related issues occur and there is little to no public reaction to the event. A prominent example is the fatal killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri which spiked national online activism through the Black community on Twitter aided by the use of hashtags like #handsupdontshoot, #blacklivesmatter, and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. Black Twitter also comes together to watch and discuss TV shows poke fun about their race through community specific memes and racialized hashtags. | ||
| − | == | + | == History == |
| + | The term “Black Twitter”, stemmed from Chiore Sicha’s article “What were Black People Taking About on Twitter Last Night” in 2009. In his article, Sicha identifies the coming of Black Twitter through it’s use of race related hashtags and it’s ability to expand beyond your own personal network -- something Sicha points out Facebook and Myspace could not accomplish. Through hashtags and viral content, Black Twitter not only attracts the attention of individuals in the community, but also users outside of it. | ||
| + | == Racialized Hashtags == | ||
| + | ===Background=== | ||
| + | Hashtags in Twitter are pieces of metadata used to classify and group user generated content into themes. When used appropriately, hashtags create curated content that can be followed. Much like regular hashtags, racialized hashtags help curate content, however, specifically group content relating to race and culture. A critical part to Black Twitter’s success is the use of racialized hashtags which helps facilitate raced based conversations across Twitter’s global audience. These hashtags are specific to the Black community by mimicking the vernacular of their community and range from humorous content to drawing attention to social justice issues the community cares about. Examples of popular racialized hashtags include, but are not limited to the following: #onlyintheghetto, #blackgirlmagic, #handsupdontshoot, and #livingwhileblack. With these racialized hashtags being a primary identifier of Black Twitter tweets, they are not all encompassing of all Black individuals on twitter and reinforce stereotypes of the Black community. Not all racialized hashtags should not be taken seriously, and not all represent the entire Black community. Racial bias comes into play when users associate racialized hashtags with the Black community as a whole. Oliver L. Haimson and Anna Lauren Hoffmann say that marginalized and culturally stigmatized communities struggle the most with their online identity. Racialized hashtags become an issue when their meaning feeds into a stigma and becomes part of a generalization. | ||
| − | == | + | === #atablackpersonfuneral === |
| + | Racialized hashtags can take on a presence similar to a meme, where aspects of culture are imitated digitally. The hashtag #atablackpersonfuneral was followed by “The other gang members stand beside the casket planning the revenge”, “you don't have to cremate them if they ass already ashy.”, or “... there is always at least one white person who feels completely out of place”. Tweets tagged with #atablackpersonfuneral are meant to be comical, but reinforce stereotypes individuals in the Black community try to disassociate with. | ||
| + | === #PaulasBestDishes === | ||
| + | Following racist comments made by Paula Deen, a white American cooking show host, Black Twitter exploded with the use of the hashtag #PaulasBestDishes which served as a dark parody playing off Paula’s role as a chef. Examples of tweets tagged with #PaulasBestDishes include “Massa-roni and cheese”, “White Devil’s Food Cake, “Back of the Bus Biscuits”, “Klu Klux Klandike Bars”, “Lynchables”, some tweets that jab at Deen’s Southern heritage and speciality. #PaulasBestDishes is an example of hashtag activism with memetic underlays to the tweet created. Moor’s law states that “As technological revolutions increase their social impact, ethical problems increase.” The impact Black Twitter has can be seen in the deterioration of Paula Deen’s career and the immediate cancellation of two cooking shows she hosted following the rise of #PaulasBestDishes on Twitter. | ||
| + | === #Ferguson=== | ||
| + | Following the shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson on August 9th, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Black Twitter posted photos and commentary on Michael Brown’s death. Photos quickly went viral, and ‘#Ferguson’ had populated over 8 million times on Twitter in the span of one month. Hashtags related to Ferguson such as #HandsUpDontShoot, #MikeBrown, and #STL also populated Twitter feeds and Trending Topics. Through the use of hashtags, Black Twitter was able to shared information not publicized by mainstream media sources and spark reactions throughout the United States. | ||
| − | == | + | |
| + | |||
| + | == Ethical Component == | ||
| + | ===Generalization=== | ||
| + | Part of what makes racialized hashtags successful is the wide range audience that finds the content relatable and humorous. Black Twitter’s racialized hashtags serve as a connecting piece for a community of individuals that have felt oppressed and marginalized throughout history. Racialized hashtags become detrimental to the Black community when they start to falsify the self-stereotype. Richard Mason holds the consumer responsible to interpret and understand whether or not the information being presented is accurate or not. Racialized hashtags walk a fine line of accurately and not accurately representing the Black community based off context and how the user is interpreting the words. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Increased Power and Impact=== | ||
| + | In the past 10 years the user base of Black Twitter has grown significantly and received public recognition from even those not in the Black community. Through their use of racialized hashtags, Black Twitter has increased their national impact, specifically crafting dialogues targeted towards racial concerns and injustices affecting their community. In the case of Ferguson, Black Twitter utilized racialized hashtags as part of their activism tactic to demand justice. Their use of racialized hashtags held a significant influence over Black Twitter users, and sparked movements and awareness on police brutality and social injustices’ their community faces. | ||
Revision as of 17:49, 15 March 2019
Black Twitter, is an online community that leverages the social platform Twitter to come together to discuss and share race related messages with one another. Twitter, which was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone allows users to “tweet” small short messages and include the use of hashtags to classify and group content together. Black Twitter has leveraged Twitter’s hashtag functionality to create hashtags specific to their community. Users are able to create community specific content to construct a “new cultural narrative, image, and definition” of Black identity. Black Twitter is the most active when race-related issues occur and there is little to no public reaction to the event. A prominent example is the fatal killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri which spiked national online activism through the Black community on Twitter aided by the use of hashtags like #handsupdontshoot, #blacklivesmatter, and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. Black Twitter also comes together to watch and discuss TV shows poke fun about their race through community specific memes and racialized hashtags.
Contents
History
The term “Black Twitter”, stemmed from Chiore Sicha’s article “What were Black People Taking About on Twitter Last Night” in 2009. In his article, Sicha identifies the coming of Black Twitter through it’s use of race related hashtags and it’s ability to expand beyond your own personal network -- something Sicha points out Facebook and Myspace could not accomplish. Through hashtags and viral content, Black Twitter not only attracts the attention of individuals in the community, but also users outside of it.
Racialized Hashtags
Background
Hashtags in Twitter are pieces of metadata used to classify and group user generated content into themes. When used appropriately, hashtags create curated content that can be followed. Much like regular hashtags, racialized hashtags help curate content, however, specifically group content relating to race and culture. A critical part to Black Twitter’s success is the use of racialized hashtags which helps facilitate raced based conversations across Twitter’s global audience. These hashtags are specific to the Black community by mimicking the vernacular of their community and range from humorous content to drawing attention to social justice issues the community cares about. Examples of popular racialized hashtags include, but are not limited to the following: #onlyintheghetto, #blackgirlmagic, #handsupdontshoot, and #livingwhileblack. With these racialized hashtags being a primary identifier of Black Twitter tweets, they are not all encompassing of all Black individuals on twitter and reinforce stereotypes of the Black community. Not all racialized hashtags should not be taken seriously, and not all represent the entire Black community. Racial bias comes into play when users associate racialized hashtags with the Black community as a whole. Oliver L. Haimson and Anna Lauren Hoffmann say that marginalized and culturally stigmatized communities struggle the most with their online identity. Racialized hashtags become an issue when their meaning feeds into a stigma and becomes part of a generalization.
#atablackpersonfuneral
Racialized hashtags can take on a presence similar to a meme, where aspects of culture are imitated digitally. The hashtag #atablackpersonfuneral was followed by “The other gang members stand beside the casket planning the revenge”, “you don't have to cremate them if they ass already ashy.”, or “... there is always at least one white person who feels completely out of place”. Tweets tagged with #atablackpersonfuneral are meant to be comical, but reinforce stereotypes individuals in the Black community try to disassociate with.
#PaulasBestDishes
Following racist comments made by Paula Deen, a white American cooking show host, Black Twitter exploded with the use of the hashtag #PaulasBestDishes which served as a dark parody playing off Paula’s role as a chef. Examples of tweets tagged with #PaulasBestDishes include “Massa-roni and cheese”, “White Devil’s Food Cake, “Back of the Bus Biscuits”, “Klu Klux Klandike Bars”, “Lynchables”, some tweets that jab at Deen’s Southern heritage and speciality. #PaulasBestDishes is an example of hashtag activism with memetic underlays to the tweet created. Moor’s law states that “As technological revolutions increase their social impact, ethical problems increase.” The impact Black Twitter has can be seen in the deterioration of Paula Deen’s career and the immediate cancellation of two cooking shows she hosted following the rise of #PaulasBestDishes on Twitter.
#Ferguson
Following the shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson on August 9th, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Black Twitter posted photos and commentary on Michael Brown’s death. Photos quickly went viral, and ‘#Ferguson’ had populated over 8 million times on Twitter in the span of one month. Hashtags related to Ferguson such as #HandsUpDontShoot, #MikeBrown, and #STL also populated Twitter feeds and Trending Topics. Through the use of hashtags, Black Twitter was able to shared information not publicized by mainstream media sources and spark reactions throughout the United States.
Ethical Component
Generalization
Part of what makes racialized hashtags successful is the wide range audience that finds the content relatable and humorous. Black Twitter’s racialized hashtags serve as a connecting piece for a community of individuals that have felt oppressed and marginalized throughout history. Racialized hashtags become detrimental to the Black community when they start to falsify the self-stereotype. Richard Mason holds the consumer responsible to interpret and understand whether or not the information being presented is accurate or not. Racialized hashtags walk a fine line of accurately and not accurately representing the Black community based off context and how the user is interpreting the words.
Increased Power and Impact
In the past 10 years the user base of Black Twitter has grown significantly and received public recognition from even those not in the Black community. Through their use of racialized hashtags, Black Twitter has increased their national impact, specifically crafting dialogues targeted towards racial concerns and injustices affecting their community. In the case of Ferguson, Black Twitter utilized racialized hashtags as part of their activism tactic to demand justice. Their use of racialized hashtags held a significant influence over Black Twitter users, and sparked movements and awareness on police brutality and social injustices’ their community faces.
