{"id":1391,"date":"2022-12-02T07:55:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T07:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2022-12-02T07:55:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T07:55:40","slug":"black-twitter-shaped-the-platform-but-its-future-lies-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/index.php\/black-twitter-shaped-the-platform-but-its-future-lies-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Twitter shaped the platform, but its future lies elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/keisha-bruce-1393856\">keisha bruce<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/ucl-1885\">UCL<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/2056305120981047\">cartoon memes<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2019\/dec\/23\/ten-years-black-twitter-watchdog\">cancel culture<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/repository.upenn.edu\/asc_papers\/472\/\">hashtag activism<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/08\/17\/black-english-misidentified-internet-slang\/\">\u201cnew\u201d languages<\/a>, it\u2019s undeniable that Black Twitter has shaped much of today\u2019s internet culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlack Twitter\u201d describes a digital gathering of culturally connected Black people who use Twitter to discuss matters related to Black communities. These cultural conversations and inside jokes have resulted in new trends, digital behaviour and changes in the platform\u2019s digital tools.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Elon Musk\u2019s controversial ownership has led some to wonder \u2013 what happens to Black Twitter now, and where will it go?<\/p>\n<p>These questions mourn the loss of a digital culture that has defined the platform over the past decade, but they also perpetuate the idea that the Black Twitter community is a singular entity, incapable of the kind of shapeshifting and remixing that has been central to its existence.<\/p>\n<p>Though some of Black Twitter\u2019s practices are often misunderstood to have originated on the social media platform, they are not new. They have histories in Black creative, <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1527476413480247\">linguistic<\/a>, and technological cultures. For example, cancel culture <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2057047320961562\">performed on Black Twitter<\/a> has roots in Black accountability practices and oral traditions, though it has now been appropriated. <\/p>\n<p>These Black cultural and linguistic practices are not exclusive to Twitter. Twitter simply offers a digital space where these practices are exposed to people who were previously unfamiliar with them. <\/p>\n<p>Similar Black cultural practices have also emerged on <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/2056305116683205\">other social networking platforms<\/a> that existed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/books\/edition\/Digital_Diaspora\/AXeVtj_i_OgC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\">long before<\/a> the emergence of Twitter in 2006, and so they certainly won\u2019t disappear in light of Musk\u2019s US$44 billion (\u00a338 billion) buyout. <\/p>\n<h2>The Black cultural impact on the Twittersphere<\/h2>\n<p>Besides its cultural impact, Black Twitter has also had technological impacts on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=FwaCDwAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=reclaiming+our+space+feminista+jones&amp;hl=en&amp;newbks=1&amp;newbks_redir=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwigpMa1hbP7AhWGIMAKHQ2xAUwQ6AF6BAgIEAI\">Reclaiming Our Space<\/a>, Feminista Jones explores how Black women\u2019s creative use of the app led to changes in the platform\u2019s design. \u201cOver the years,\u201d she writes, \u201cBlack women have continued to tinker with Twitter as a platform, creating ways to communicate that are more in line with our norms. In response, Twitter has adapted its platform to how we tweet, from creating the current mechanism for threading to incorporating gifs in tweet options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The technological and cultural impact of Black Twitter doesn\u2019t stop there. In her essay <a href=\"https:\/\/modelviewculture.com\/pieces\/the-blackness-of-meme-movement\">The Blackness of Meme Movement<\/a>, Lauren Michele Jackson argues that popular meme culture is directly linked to Black language and expressive cultures. Their usage embodies Black cultural experiences and <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/2019\/12\/white-negroes-author-lauren-michele-jackson-q-and-a.html\">are shaped by them<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As Black folk shaped the platform (and culture) through digital play and communication, Twitter quickly became an incubator for Black cultural production. This caught the eyes of media and cultural industries who altered their marketing strategies after they noticed the profitability of Black Twitter\u2019s \u201ccoolness\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Memes, for example, quickly became an opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/gal-dem.com\/in-memes-we-trust\/\">increase the revenue of hip-hop music<\/a>. Another example is live-tweeting, when Black Twitter gathers to respond in real-time to TV shows, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.refinery29.com\/en-gb\/black-twitter-love-island-commentators-to-follow\">Love Island<\/a>, and offer comedic and political commentary on race, society and culture. Industries recognised the viewership this practice brought, and have <a href=\"https:\/\/www-jstor-org.nottingham.idm.oclc.org\/stable\/24803012?sid=primo\">changed how they market media and engage audiences<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Twitter as a space for anti-Black digital harm<\/h2>\n<p>Black experiences on Twitter aren\u2019t always enjoyable. Twitter was <a href=\"https:\/\/gal-dem.com\/black-mental-health-needs-protecting-online-heres-how-you-can-help\/\">never a haven for Black people<\/a> on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>The hyper-visibility of Blackness, Black cultures and Black expressions have become a digital currency resulting in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theindy.org\/article\/2636\">cultural appropriation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-d.vice.com\/en\/article\/nepzyg\/white-girls-instagram-blackface-blackfishing\">blackfishing<\/a> (in which non-Black people use makeup, cosmetic surgery or digital editing to flirt with the appearance of Blackness) and <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/1527476420983745\">digital blackface<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teenvogue.com\/story\/digital-blackface-reaction-gifs\">the use of visual depictions of Black people<\/a> such as gifs, emojis, and memes as a form of self-expression by non-Black people). <\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-left zoomable\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The blue Twitter bird logo in front of the Twitter offices in San Francisco, US\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/496197\/original\/file-20221118-14-rj2h2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/a><figcaption>\n              <span class=\"caption\">Twitter offices in San Francisco, US.<\/span><br \/>\n              <span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/san-francisco-ca-usa-may-1-2152016641\">Tada Images<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Outsider surveillance has meant that Black Twitter has become a resource for <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2057047320961562\">misappropriation<\/a> and creative theft, including when journalists mine Black Twitter to write articles and \u201cdiscover\u201d new trends, preventing Black creators from making money from their cultural production.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of adequate regulation on Twitter also means that the threat of anti-Black abuse is amplified. This particularly affects those at the margin of the margins, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/decoders.amnesty.org\/projects\/troll-patrol\/findings\">Black women<\/a>, queer people and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jamiewareham\/2019\/11\/25\/one-year-since-twitters-transphobia-ban--that-is-failing-trans-people\/?sh=4c199b2e20f8\">trans people<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many former contributors to Black Twitter have already left the app \u2013 often platforms that they have spent significant time building \u2013 and <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9EW4wVYQBe\">more will continue to do so<\/a>. For all its greatness, Black Twitter is not a digital utopia, and many people have been deeply affected by the threat of harm on the platform, resulting in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/books\/edition\/Misogynoir_Transformed\/E30DEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\">powerful engagements of digital resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>How will Black Twitter go?<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of asking, \u201cWhat happens to Black Twitter now?\u201d, I find it useful to ask, \u201cHow will Black Twitter go?\u201d. Asking this acknowledges that there is a method to Black digital life \u2013 it is continuously being created and redefined. It also locates \u201cBlack Twitter\u201d with the people and culture who carry it, and not only with the platform they inhabit.<\/p>\n<p>While we collectively mourn the loss of a digital space that has represented culture, laughter, community and resistance, we need to remember that the platform has still perpetuated and circulated harm. Twitter cannot be the centre of all Black digital life. We must dream of better.<\/p>\n<p>And so, \u201cBlack Twitter\u201d will go as it always has done, in a fashion of cultural innovation, with our shared memories, collective archives and <a href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/2022\/11\/03\/elon-musks-purchase-is-not-black-twitters-problem\/\">hopes for a better future<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Such is life on the internet. Social media and websites can disappear at any time. But if we must take one lesson, it is that while Twitter didn\u2019t create Black Twitter, Black Twitter certainly defined and shaped Twitter.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/194950\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1\/1;border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/keisha-bruce-1393856\">keisha bruce<\/a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/ucl-1885\">UCL<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/black-twitter-shaped-the-platform-but-its-future-lies-elsewhere-194950\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>keisha bruce, UCL From cartoon memes to cancel culture, hashtag activism and \u201cnew\u201d languages, it\u2019s undeniable that Black Twitter has shaped much of today\u2019s<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/index.php\/black-twitter-shaped-the-platform-but-its-future-lies-elsewhere\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAowu7GVCw:productID":"","_crdt_document":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3495,722,926,3501,3496,3492,3497,3499,1237,445,3493,1168,744,3494,447],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-interest","tag-black-twitter","tag-creative-commons","tag-digital-media","tag-feminista-jones","tag-hashtag","tag-information-science","tag-internet-meme","tag-lauren-michele-jackson","tag-san-francisco","tag-social-media","tag-social-networks","tag-twitter","tag-united-states","tag-web-2-0","tag-world-wide-web"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/file-20221118-12-x5dl2h-1024x683.jpg","blog_images":{"medium":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/file-20221118-12-x5dl2h-300x200.jpg","large":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/file-20221118-12-x5dl2h-1024x683.jpg"},"ams_acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Black Twitter shaped the platform, but its future lies elsewhere - Mpelembe Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Black Twitter has played a significant role in shaping the platform. 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