Edited by Azizi Powell
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/02/say-it-louds-youtube-channels-2019.html for Part I of this pancocojams post. That post showcases the 2019 YouTube video entitled "The Reason #BlackTwitter Exists (And Is Totally Awesome)".
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread are also included in this post.
The content of this post is included for socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS
These article excerpts are given in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1
What Happens To Black Twitter Under Musk, November 12, 2022
…."MARTIN: Clark is an associate professor in journalism and communications studies at Northeastern University, and she's the author of a forthcoming book on Black Twitter.
[...]
MARTIN: When we spoke, I started by asking Clark to tell us just what is Black Twitter.
CLARK: So there are two definitions. The complex one is that Black Twitter is a series of communities on Twitter made up of Black folks tweeting about issues of concern to people in Black communities. And the simple answer is black Twitter is Black people using Twitter and talking the way that Black folks do.
MARTIN: How would you say Black Twitter functions within the larger society? I mean, and I'm thinking specifically about the United States right now, but really, Black Twitter is global. How would you describe the impact of Black Twitter functioning within the larger culture?
CLARK: There are a number of places where I would trace Black Twitter's impact. Definitely with something like Black Lives Matter or the Movement for Black Lives, rather, where so many people were able to see how folks in different regions of the globe, different parts of the world and different parts of this country were connecting with one another to talk about racial justice issues. All of these conversations happening on the same platform at the same time around the world. The same is true for #MeToo and for so many other movements where there has been a Black person whose contributions have been overlooked, or perhaps the history has been distorted. So you see it in those instances.
[…]
MARTIN: So again, talking about how Black Twitter's reacted to that, I've seen some people are leaving. Some high-profile individuals have already left. And there are also people saying we're not going anywhere because this belongs to us as much as it belongs to any of these people. Racism and trolling is nothing new. We're not going anywhere. What - do you see a dominant response to this so far? I know it's hard to judge something like that when, like, there are literally millions of people using the platform. But what do you see so far?
CLARK: Well, from my perspective, I look out at the neighborhoods that I inhabit on Twitter. And among Black Twitter, I see people saying, nope, we're staying. We're digging in our heels. We've been on this platform. We've contributed so much to it that we've made it valuable in the way that it is today. We've made it an asset, and so no, we're not going anywhere. And then I see other people, honestly, who have more privilege, a number of academics who are saying, nope, we're going somewhere else. We're leaving for other platforms.
But I do really think that there are limits to those relationships because there aren't many platforms that allow many speakers to talk to one another all at the same time in the same place. My use hasn't changed all that much. I don't plan to be one of those people who migrate. I just tweeted the other day that I'll be the last one to turn the lights off if that's what I need to be, because I'm certainly not going either.
MARTIN: In fact, you wrote an op-ed in theGrio saying that no matter what happens to Twitter, Black Twitter will still exist even without Twitter as a platform. Now, for those who haven't seen it yet, that seems contradictory. Can you explain what you mean by that?
CLARK: Certainly. It seems contradictory if we're only focusing on Black Twitter as a group of people on a platform. But if you think about the history of Black communication in this country, then you can very easily trace how Black folks have used every technological medium available to us to talk to one another, to get out messages, often to contradict mainstream reporting on Black communities. So everything from Freedom's Journal, the first newspaper published by free Black men in the U.S. in 1827, to startups and things that folks like Sherrell Dorsey and the creator of kweliTV, these people are doing in order to get information out and to source information from our communities where we see it's not being reported or talked about elsewhere.
CLARK: It evolves in the same way that, you know, we had the
Harlem Renaissance, and the medium of the time were novels and poetry and
music. And then we've got this evolution, you know, far down the line into
something like hip-hop as another evolutionary form of expression. We've been
on web 2.0 for a while, and we've been able to express with and across
territories with one another. I think the next thing that we will see will be a
creation that comes out of our communities, perhaps using new technologies.
Maybe we'll be creating really cool things in the metaverse. It might be
something that comes offline, and maybe we dig deep into what we can do in our
physical communities. I can't say that I know for sure, but I do know that the
creative power of Black people cannot be duplicated, and it cannot be
extinguished. So I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with next.”….
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EXCERPT #2
From https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/26/us/black-twitter-future-reaj/index.html Users are split over Black Twitter’s chances to survive under Elon Musk By Meron Moges-Gerbi, CNN, Published November 26, 2022
"Black Twitter is mourning the possible end of the influential community they found on Twitter more than a decade ago, but users are split between finding a new app or staying put.
“I’m not ready to go because I feel like that’s the case with a lot of things. Black people bring culture, community and love and so much energy and spirit and soul to whatever places we inhabit, and then someone else comes in and totally disrupts the energy and we leave, and they benefit from what we built,” Eunique Jones Gibson, an avid Twitter user and CEO of the marketing company Culture Brands, told CNN.
Gibson, like numerous other Black users, has bonded with strangers and elevated movements like “Black Lives Matter” and “Bring Back Our Girls” while using Black Twitter – the subset of the social media platform where Black people have conversations about everything from culture to race to identity. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October, the future of Black Twitter has led to debate among scholars and its users.
[...]
André Brock, a professor of Black digital studies at Georgia Tech who has studied Black Twitter, said Black users may not leave the platform, at least for some time.
“We’re going to live wherever we are, even if the circumstances aren’t perfect for us, but when have they ever (been)?” Brock told CNN, adding that the social media platform has been the go-to for Black users for more than a decade.
But Brock said the collective voice that represents Black Twitter will continue to be “Black as loudly and exuberantly as possible” no matter where it lives.
Charlton Mcllwain, a professor New York University and author of “Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter,” said Black Twitter does its own thinking, and Musk won’t change it. However, McIlwain says Musk could alter the platform to make it difficult to find each other or amplify other users’ tweets, or create a hostile environment.
“Amplifying the voices of White supremacist users and transforming the platform into a haven for anti-Black racism or racism targeting other identities could also negatively impact Black Twitter by creating an environment that users deem simply too hostile to be worth it,” McIllwain said.",,,,
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EXCERPT #3
From https://theconversation.com/black-twitter-shaped-the-platform-but-its-future-lies-elsewhere-194950 Black Twitter shaped the platform, but its future lies
elsewhere,Published: December 1, 2022 by keisha bruce, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies,
UCL
"From cartoon memes to cancel culture, hashtag activism and “new” languages, it’s undeniable that Black Twitter has shaped much of today’s internet culture.
“Black Twitter” 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’s digital tools.
Elon Musk’s controversial ownership has led some to wonder – what happens to Black Twitter now, and where will it go?
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.
[...]
The Black cultural impact on the Twittersphere
Besides its cultural impact, Black Twitter has also had
technological impacts on the platform.
In Reclaiming Our Space, Feminista Jones explores how Black women’s creative use of the app led to changes in the platform’s design. “Over the years,” she writes, “Black 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.”
The technological and cultural impact of Black Twitter doesn’t stop there. In her essay The Blackness of Meme Movement, Lauren Michele Jackson argues that popular meme culture is directly linked to Black language and expressive cultures. Their usage embodies Black cultural experiences and are shaped by them.
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’s “coolness”.
Memes, for example, quickly became an opportunity to increase the revenue of hip-hop music. Another example is live-tweeting, when Black Twitter gathers to respond in real-time to TV shows, such as Love Island, and offer comedic and political commentary on race, society and culture. Industries recognised the viewership this practice brought, and have changed how they market media and engage audiences.
Twitter as a space for anti-Black digital harm
Black experiences on Twitter aren’t always enjoyable.
Twitter was never a haven for Black people on the internet.
The hyper-visibility of Blackness, Black cultures and Black expressions have become a digital currency resulting in cultural appropriation, blackfishing (in which non-Black people use makeup, cosmetic surgery or digital editing to flirt with the appearance of Blackness) and digital blackface (the use of visual depictions of Black people such as gifs, emojis, and memes as a form of self-expression by non-Black people).
Outsider surveillance has meant that Black Twitter has become a resource for misappropriation and creative theft, including when journalists mine Black Twitter to write articles and “discover” new trends, preventing Black creators from making money from their cultural production.
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 Black women, queer people and trans people.
Many former contributors to Black Twitter have already left the app – often platforms that they have spent significant time building – and more will continue to do so. 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 powerful engagements of digital resistance.
How will Black Twitter go?
Instead of asking, “What happens to Black Twitter now?”, I
find it useful to ask, “How will Black Twitter go?”. Asking this acknowledges
that there is a method to Black digital life – it is continuously being created
and redefined. It also locates “Black Twitter” with the people and culture who
carry it, and not only with the platform they inhabit.
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.
And so, “Black Twitter” will go as it always has done, in a fashion of cultural innovation, with our shared memories, collective archives and hopes for a better future.
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’t create Black Twitter, Black Twitter certainly defined and shaped
Twitter."...
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EXCERPT #4
From https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2023/01/20/basic-black-can-black-twitter-survive-elon-musk by Basic Black [radio series] and Kenrick Mercado, January 20, 2023
"Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the online social platform has been in disarray. Millions of people have tweeted their disdain or deleted their accounts.
Guests on Basic Black described Black Twitter as fun, safe, communal and creative. But they also said Black Twitter has devolved recently, and gets targeted with hate speech and death threats, especially after Musk took over the platform.
So, can Black Twitter survive and continue to be a transformative outlet?
Jeneé Osterheldt, culture columnist at the Boston Globe, said asking if Black Twitter can survive is like asking if Black people can survive.
"We're surviving as a collective. We're fighting you know, fighting for liberation ... but we're here, we're living, we're thriving. We're cultivating joy," Osterheldt said.
Danielle Johnson, CEO and founder of SPARK FM Online, agreed that Black Twitter will continue forward. She said most danger on Twitter comes from people with few followers who are not relevant.
[…]
All of the guests said they have experienced some form of racism and hate speech on Twitter, and block or mute people frequently.
[…]
Dr. Meredith Clark, an associate professor and founding
director of the Center for Communication, Media Innovation and Social Change at
Northeastern University, has studied Black Twitter since 2010 and is currently
working on a book about it. She said she is shifting much of her creative
endeavors back to her personal and professional writing, and meeting in person
with people in her community — but she isn't leaving Twitter.
"Black Twitter contains allegiance, just in the same
way that there is no one Black community — we're talking about Black
communities and everything that makes us spectacular," she said."...
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This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
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