Twitter, which is a microblogging application, has attained credible popularity based on its entertainment value. Twitter has been able to attain a large customer base because of its effective feedback mechanism, multi-platform access and brevity traits (Brock 530). The modern communication habits have embraced the concept of Black Internet. This has occurred effectively through the social media integration to the modern communication patterns and means. Twitter is one of these social media platforms, which has seen a large growing number of users from the Blacks. Hence, the social media may be regarded as “Black Twitter”. This is because studies have illustrated that approximately 25% of the Blacks use Twitter in comparison to 9% of the Whites who use Twitter.
Celebrities have been the major contributors towards the overwhelming growth of Twitter. This is because their followers tend to sign up in the interface of this social media so that they can interact and share information effectively. This has happened because Twitter uses a simple interface that people from different geographical locations are able to interact with. The interface is also user friendly. Considering the features found in the interface of Twitter, it is clear that these social futures and the ease in interacting with them has attracted many users with majority of participants being the Blacks. The technology, which has being adopted by this social network, is directed towards ensuring that all people irrespective of their race and ethnic backgrounds are able to interact and share information effectively.
Furthermore, Twitter has topical hashtag, which is integrated with cultural commonplaces that enhance the establishment of a communal bond among the Twitter users. This situation develops without any limitations based on race or cultural backgrounds of individuals. As such, Twitter has been able to create a social network that enables individuals from different geographical and cultural backgrounds to share information, interact and create bonds that result into effective relationships, to some extent. This phenomenon has been exemplified by the creation of both technocultural and racial ideologies, which are the foundations for the development of the Black technology and its usage.
The discursive culture of the Blacks is focused on audience participation, ritual, delivery and invention. This is what Twitter has done to ensure that its users remain connected throughout. The ambiguity and ubiquity of Twitter provided a room for the access of materials without having any functionality problems. This includes the ability of the social media to work through the mobile devices, which majority of the Blacks could use to access the internet. This depicts that Black Twitter is a representation of how Twitter plays a role of being the medium of cultural communication that transcends the size of conversation incoherence and limitations that exist in chat rooms, but provides an opportunity for users to engage in extensive open-ended community discourse within real-time. Moreover, Black Twitter has played a significant role in the racial and technocultural ideologies. Therefore, Black Twitter articulates Black subculture effectively.
Twitter’s hashtag function and the development of “trending topics” in Twitter has been the major contributing factor towards the prominence of the Black Twitter (Brock 540). This indicates that Black Twitter is actually a public communication channel that aids in ensuring that the voices of people from different areas are heard effectively. Moreover, viral spread with regard to Black Twitter among the various online venues, which include YouTube, IM and email. As these networks focused on adopting Twitter, the public notion and popularity of the social media developed significantly.
Twitter provides a platform where users can not only read, but also post short messages of picture and text via Twitter’s website interface (Lin et al. 40). This may also be done while using a variety of other applications as the situation may suit. This has attracted the age group of the users of the social media to be that of individuals capable using the internet including the teenagers and young children. Some instructors and students also use Twitter has the communication means where the students provide their feedback to their tutors. This occurs since Twitter enables its users to post quick and timely updates whose credibility and reliability issues are vested on the user.
Some learning institutions regard Twitter as a means of establishing interconnections and collaborations among the students (Lin et al. 43). However, such an act may be disruptive to the learning institution and the learning process at large. This occurs when student share information, which is geared towards disrupting the peace or planning actions, which may threaten the process of learning in the higher institutions. Tweets and Retweets enable effective sharing of information through Twitter. Limiting how users can use this social network effectively is a major problem to the government and other concerned agencies. This is because the social interface provides an opportunity for users to create different identities, which they may use to share information that may be of major security concern. Therefore, Twitter is an effective social media communicating tool, but it has the limitation of not being regulated.
Works Cited
Brock, André. "From The Blackhand Side: Twitter As A Cultural Conversation." Journal Of
Broadcasting & Electronic Media 56.4 (2012): 529-549. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
Lin, Meng-Fen, Ellen Hoffman, and Claire Borengasser. "Is Social Media Too Social For Class?
A Case Study Of Twitter Use." Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning 57.2 (2013): 39-45. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
