As new Twitter sanctions abound, many Black users are turning to the various new platforms that are cropping up. And because Black people run the world of social media, of course they’re not going quietly into the night.
New platforms like BlueSky, Threads, Spill (which is Black-owned), and Mastodon are benefiting from the masses of exiting users, and folks are making more than a few jokes.
As of February 2023, “there are about three-quarters of adult African-Americans signed up for at least one form of social media,” according to BET, and “African Americans use Twitter more than any other ethnic group.”
As “Elon Musty” started trending, one user tweeted out, “One thing about Black Twitter, we gon joke until the app shuts down.”
Communications professor Meredith Clark, Ph.D., has described Black Twitter as “Black people using Twitter and talking the way that Black folks do.” There’s no escaping its wrath either. As legendary director Spike Lee said, “When Black Twitter gets on your black a**…ooh, it ain’t no joke.”
With the great #SpillMigration, some believe this might be a new haven, the rising new platform founded by former Twitter employees Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown.
One user said, “Spill is really a whole app of nothing but Black Twitter.”
Another noted “Spill is trending #1. You can’t tell me #BlackTwitter did not drive the bird app and make it what it is.”
The emergence of Threads on Wednesday added another alternative to the bird app. “By Thursday morning, more than 30 million people had already signed up” for the new platform. As Black journalist Wesley Lowery aptly posted, “only elon musk could have me rooting for mark zuckerberg.”
As one user hilariously commented, “Streets are saying too many apps, I’m saying this is the hunger games of apps and it’s good, I want more apps trying to kill each other. I want an apps royal Rumble. I want the Jeremy Renner app to have a chance.”
It all boils down to the existential truth that “[w]ithout Black people…social media wouldn’t be as influential.” But since Elon Musk acquired the Twitter platform, there have been extreme changes, causing many to become dissatisfied.
So what will be the last app standing? Only time will tell, but Black folks will continue spilling the tea, be it on Spill, or one of the other new options. This is expected to “likely mark a sea change in social media — and Musk’s loss may prove to be” another social media platform’s gain.