User:Upsidedownwaffle/Black Twitter

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According to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center, 28 percent of African Americans who used the Internet used Twitter, compared to 20 percent of online white, non-Hispanic Americans. By 2018, this gap had shrunk, with 26 percent of all African American adults using Twitter, compared to 24 percent of white adults and 20 percent of Hispanic adults. In addition, in 2013, 11 percent of African-American Twitter users said they used Twitter at least once a day, compared to 3 percent of white users. BlackTwitter.com was launched as a news aggregator reflective of black culture in 2020.

User and social media researcher André Brock of the University of Iowa dates the first published comments on Black Twitter usage to a 2008 piece by blogger Anil Dash, and a 2009 article by Chris Wilson in The Root describing the viral success of Twitter joke memes such as "#YouKnowYoureBlackWhen" and "#YouKnowYoureFromQueens" that were primarily aimed at Black Twitter users. Brock cites the first reference to a Black Twitter community—as "Late Night Black People Twitter" and "Black People Twitter"—in the November 2009 article "What Were Black People Talking About on Twitter Last Night?" by Choire Sicha, co-founder of current-affairs website The Awl. Sicha described it as "huge, organic and ... seemingly seriously nocturnal"—in fact, active around the clock.

Kyra Gaunt, an early adopter who participated in Black Twitter who also became a social media researcher, shared reactions to black users at the first 140 Characters Conference (#140Conf) that took place on November 17, 2009, at the O2 Indigo in London. Her slide deck offered examples of racist reactions to the topic "#Thatsafrican" that started trending in July 2008. She and other users claimed the trending topic was censored by the platform. She and other Black Twitter users began blogging and micro-blogging about Black Twitter identity. The blogging led to buzz-worthy media appearances about Twitter. Social media researcher Sarah Florini prefers to discuss the interactions among this community of users as an "enclave."

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More recently, Black Twitter spotlighted the "BBQing While Black", incident during which a white woman called police officers on a black family barbecuing in the park. Oakland police arrived; no one was arrested. The 25-minute episode was captured on video, then posted on YouTube where it was viewed more than 2 million times. The incident was memed hundreds of times with images featuring a white woman in sunglasses showing up to various locations and events, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s monumental speech, a Soul Train taping, and President Barack Obama’s presidency.

When speaking on CNN about her dissent towards former President Donald Trump, CNN commentator Angela Rye stated "[she] will never claim Trump as her bigot president." After this clip went viral, Black twitter users then coined the hashtag #NotMyPresident. Through this hashtag, many Black twitter users used memes and humor as a form of social commentary to express their extreme dissent towards former president Donald Trump.