Is Black Twitter Still a Thing?

[Troy]

The promotional copy reads;

 

"Since 1827, when Freedom’s Journal, the first newspaper to be published by free Black men in the United States, Black folks have been making use of the media technologies available to them to tell their own stories in their own ways."

 

There is own important, and obvious, difference between Freedom's Journal and Twitter (I know it is called "X" now). Black people owned Freedom's Journal! the failure to make that distinction, and to use this as a Twitter as an example of Black people using media to tell our own stores in our own way is ludicrous!

 

First, Twitter uses an algorithm to determine which tweets get elevated. People generate content to satisfy the algorithm whose sole purpose to maximize Twitter's revenue.  Anyone who thinks this serves Black people is stupid (sorry). 

 

Second, I recently spoke about how I was banned from accessing or even seeing my Twitter account. I later learned that other Black people, some very prominent, have been blocked or had their account usurped by the pin heads at Twitter.

 

I just learned about the book, We Tried to Tell Y’All by Meredith D. Clark today from the New York Times. I have not read the book, but from what I've seen in videos about the author's thoughts on Twitter I find virtually nothing I agree with regarding her position on Twitter and the agency of Black people on it. 

 

Meredith and I are both clearly very biased, but I think I'm more correct.  Elon's take over of the platform, and Trump's exploitation of it to propel himself into the Whitehouse should be sufficient evidence.  But the real proof is the answer to the question, I first posed: Is Black Twitter still a thing?  

 

We Tried to Tell Y’All: Black Twitter and the Rise of Digital Counternarratives
by Meredith D. Clark

 

[ProfD]

Black Twitter (X) is already an oxymoron. We don't own it. 

 

The platform becomes a repository for our digital data.  No telling how it can be exploited.

 

 find it mind-boggling that Black brain-power and wealth are not working together to create our own platforms. 

 

I find it disturbing that Black folks are perfectly fine with enriching white folks at every level.  Social media platforms is one example.

[Troy]

The crazy thing is that there are Black-owned social media sites.  It is fascinating to watch Black Twitter wring their hands over where to go next.  The problem is unless "mainstream" media gives it their co-sign Black people won't flock to it.

 

It takes a ton of money to run a robust social media platform capable of supporting even tens of thousands of users -- let alone hundreds of millions of users globally. So, any site we use will need serious funding and only comes from investors who believe there will be serious returns on their investment.  The type of money will not flow to a Black focused social site -- at least not an American one.

 

Perhaps one will emerge from the continent.  Maybe it already exists, and I just don't know about it -- because we are all fixated to keep our TikTok account active

[ProfD]

41 minutes ago, Troy said:

The crazy thing is that there are Black-owned social media sites. 

 

The problem is unless "mainstream" media gives it their co-sign Black people won't flock to it.

 

It takes a ton of money to run a robust social media platform...

Black folks invest a whole lot of money in churches though.  Maybe we need to call the Black platform Hallelujah.

 

 

[Troy]

On 2/6/2025 at 6:16 PM, ProfD said:

Hallelujah

That is actually a Great idea man a Christian social media site, surely one most already exist.

[ProfD]

19 minutes ago, Troy said:

That is actually a Great idea man a Christian social media site, surely one most already exist.

I wasn't thinking of it as a Christian social media site. I'd imagine something similar already exists.

 

Regardless of religious affiliation, I was thinking that could be the name of a Black-owned platform equivalent of Tw8tter (X), G**gle, Y*uT*be, T*kT*k & A*mazon combined.

 

The name would be catchy enough to grab a whoke lot of Black folks' attention.

[richardmurray]

@ProfD

On 2/6/2025 at 11:02 AM, ProfD said:

 find it mind-boggling that Black brain-power and wealth are not working together to create our own platforms. 

 

I find it disturbing that Black folks are perfectly fine with enriching white folks at every level.  Social media platforms is one example.

If individualism is the majority position among Black people with the revenue or resources to invest in owning a website fit for modern esocial activity, then it does make sense. I don't think an individualist sees it as enriching a community, they see it as an individual investment. If you are individualist, you don't see your actions as part of any populace in humanity, only the larger humanity itself. 

@Troy

On 2/6/2025 at 5:30 PM, Troy said:

It takes a ton of money to run a robust social media platform capable of supporting even tens of thousands of users -- let alone hundreds of millions of users globally. So, any site we use will need serious funding and only comes from investors who believe there will be serious returns on their investment.

thank you, too often black folk seem to think investment in things just needs pennies from the black poor. Something require grand investment

 

To @ProfD + @Troy

On 2/6/2025 at 6:16 PM, ProfD said:

Black folks invest a whole lot of money in churches though.  Maybe we need to call the Black platform Hallelujah

 

On 2/8/2025 at 11:25 AM, Troy said:

That is actually a Great idea man a Christian social media site, surely one most already exist.

I found on first page search only the following 

http://www.blackandchristian.com/

Its funny facebook was started through colleges, Historical black colleges through the fraternities or sororities can idealistically do similar. 

[Troy]

12 hours ago, richardmurray said:

I found on first page search only the following 

http://www.blackandchristian.com/

That website is defaulted. It has not been maintained for years and the length to the forms is broken. The fact that it ranks well in search seems to indicate there is no active website in the space. I wonder if there’s even a desire for one. I suspect most church communities have their own websites and online social platforms.

 

On 2/8/2025 at 12:00 PM, ProfD said:

Regardless of religious affiliation, I was thinking that could be the name of a Black-owned platform equivalent of Tw8tter (X)

Well, from the example that Richard provided the idea of a Black Christian website didn’t seem to work. As far as a black on website, the equivalent of what’s already out there we already know that won’t work at least not originating in the US.

 

12 hours ago, richardmurray said:

I don't think an individualist sees it as enriching a community, they see it as an individual investment.

Of course anyone buying in stock in Meta or Alphabet are doing so to make money for themselves. Now, while  Facebook makes itself out itself as bringing in the world closer together people don’t invest in them for that they invest solely to make money.

 

There are other businesses types that are mission, driven B corps and not for profits. people invest in them to improve society, but those aren’t the organizations that make all that make money for investors or create wealth. 
 

It has been suggested buy some, that AALBC should become a not for profit.

[richardmurray]

@Troy

25 minutes ago, Troy said:

The fact that it ranks well in search seems to indicate there is no active website in the space. I wonder if there’s even a desire for one. I suspect most church communities have their own websites and online social platforms.

Local Churches historically tend to be competitive to each other, they may share a similar faith but they rarely like to share prominence.

Well, youtube tried short videos before tiktok was created and it didn't catch fire. so, what that one scenario proves is, the packaging/algorithm/style of such a website is key. People like websites when it offers a simple straight forward interface while provides an aspect to communication online that they didn't have before, not necessarily as a tool , but in the style of the tool. 

I think "HAlleluyah" can work, but imagination will be needed in how it operates.

I argue AALBC should stay for profit but it will be wise if you have a contingency plan for non profit upon your death or some bad situation

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

As far as a black on website, the equivalent of what’s already out there we already know that won’t work at least not originating in the US.

Again, I was not advocating for a Black Christian website or platform. 

 

That's not my thing as the resident agnostic around here.

 

Half-Jokingly, I only used the name Hallelujah because many Black folks would check it out due to upbringing.

 

14 hours ago, richardmurray said:

thank you, too often black folk seem to think investment in things just needs pennies from the black poor. Something require grand investment

 

Many poor people still give church offerings, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and do drugs and shop.  So, they can contribute along with other investors.

[richardmurray]

@ProfD

4 hours ago, ProfD said:

So, they can contribute along with other investors.

Can they? 

I don't smoke cigarettes, but I know cigarettes cost money, so if a human being, likes smoking cigerattes and they are a financially poor person, they probably don't have money to invest in a website, even if what they can invest is not even a miniscule fraction of a percent of the funds needed .

[ProfD]

46 minutes ago, richardmurray said:

 

Can they? 

Yes they can.

46 minutes ago, richardmurray said:

...so if a human being, likes smoking cigerattes and they are a financially poor person, they probably don't have money to invest in a website, even if what they can invest is not even a miniscule fraction of a percent of the funds needed .

Reads like you're making excuses.

 

Where I come from, I know for a fact that poor people know how find money.

 

Obviously, not enough money to become rich or wealthy in most cases. But, it's enough to maintain habits.

 

Many campaigns are funded by small money donors. Some churches operate the same way. It adds up.

 

[richardmurray]

@ProfDnot an excuse, being happy isn't an excuse to anything.

if any human being does something that makes them happy, they want to do that more right. At least for me, i will rather be happy than sad and i think any other human will rather be happy than sad. So fi your happiness is an expense , you still need it and some investment into something that will not lead to you being happy will not be maintained for long. 

yes example of consistent small donors to certain financial endeavors exist, but to be even, cause the dialog is swaying away from the theme of the topic... my original quotes were in concert with Troy's concerning black twitter, more specifically websites, online websites, it wasn't a generalization. and in an endeavor like a website big donors are mandatory , needed. Not one heavily followed website had small donors. throughout its history. That isn't laziness or an accident or something small donors can undo, it is the reality, big donors are needed for any website to grow a certain size. And to the current environment , many websites even after massive financial investment are failures. Look at china really. The blunt truth is that western european countries/japan/india/russia all have websites to their local markets but none were like china, willing to invest enough to get websites that are global brands. And it took money for that, not small donors of the chinese people. Rich chinese so I repeat my point to troy: too often black folk seem to think investment in things just needs pennies from the black poor.  and I amend, that is not true. 

Black pennies from the black poor is good for local, local defined as city region or town level investments. A house/ a community center/a retail shop/small scale operations. that are bounded to the region of a city or a town. But if you want industry leading firms across the usa, with over three hundred and fifty million people or moreover humanity, the black rich not the black pennies from the black poor have to be the primary investors. 

[ProfD]

47 minutes ago, richardmurray said:

@ProfDnot an excuse, being happy isn't an excuse to anything.

if any human being does something that makes them happy, they want to do that more right. At least for me, i will rather be happy than sad and i think any other human will rather be happy than sad. So fi your happiness is an expense , you still need it and some investment into something that will not lead to you being happy will not be maintained for long. 

Right.

 

Reminds me of people who claim they want to lose weight but refuse to diet and exercise because eating makes them happy.

 

Instead of a gym membership, the overweight person who claims they want to lose weight would rather spend that money on more food and snacks. 

 

A pack of cigarettes in NYC costs $13 dollars. That's almost 1 hour of minimum wage work.

 

If we're serious about it, 4 million Black people investing $25 dollars (2 packs of cigarettes in NYC or a large pizza) in a business venture adds up to $100 million dollars.

[richardmurray]

@ProfD

16 minutes ago, ProfD said:

A pack of cigarettes in NYC costs $13 dollars. That's almost 1 hour of minimum wage work.

it's funny, i haven't heard of a person buying a pack of cigarettes in a very long time in nyc. I see people buying singles at stores or asking for singles from their fellows or strangers. A pack? no one has money for a pack Profd. that fact that you suggested that ... you haven't been in a place like nyc in a long time have you? I don't get snap but many are complaining about snap benefits ending.

...I repeat, because it is important, black pennies will not do it. Do you know across the demographic board of NYC, if the school food program goes under, half of the children in nyc's schools, not just black, the non black as well whom you like to suggest so financially astute, will go hungry, across the board 50% , fifty percent of the children in public school.

38 minutes ago, ProfD said:

 

If we're serious about it, 4 million Black people investing $25 dollars (2 packs of cigarettes in NYC or a large pizza) in a business venture adds up to $100 million dollars.

 I will love to know who has bought two packs of cigarettes in a month in nyc ? only people with money in the first place are doing that.  but you get to the nitty gritty. 

Who is going to be in control fo that hundred million dollars? Profd? It will not be me. who? obama? sharpton? mrs obama? clarence thomas? who? historical black colleges?

I can't name one black individual or group in the usa who has the desire+ imagination+trust to do anything with 100 million. if it was gathered.

This goes back to our million man march dialog. Assuming someone had the trust or could gain the trust, trust must be earned, of five hundred thousand black men  who attended the march , with your $25 dollar assumption, that twelve million and five hundred dollars? but who canthose 5000,00 trust? you? me ?  iargue none class.

[ProfD]

7 hours ago, richardmurray said:

@ProfD

it's funny, i haven't heard of a person buying a pack of cigarettes in a very long time in nyc. I see people buying singles at stores or asking for singles from their fellows or strangers. A pack? no one has money for a pack Profd. that fact that you suggested that ... you haven't been in a place like nyc in a long time have you?

You're missing the point but it's OK. 

 

I was just in NYC last year. Saw Black folks spending money too.

 

7 hours ago, richardmurray said:

n in nyc's schools, not just black, the non black as well whom you like to suggest so financially astute, will go hungry, across the board 50% , fifty percent of the children in public school.

NYC is the same place spending millions of dollars housing illegal immigrants. They could easily feed the children if ut was a priority.

 

7 hours ago, richardmurray said:

 Who is going to be in control fo that hundred million dollars? Profd?

 

I can't name one black individual or group in the usa who has the desire+ imagination+trust to do anything with 100 million.

Right. Therein lies the biggest obstacle.

 

On one hand, you don't 1) believe Black folks can raise $100 million dollars through grassroot efforts and 2) can't trust any steward of the $100 million dollars collected.

 

But, you'll suggest folks like Oprah Winfrey and others put up $100 million dollars of their money.

 

My point is that Black folks can do both. 

 

7 hours ago, richardmurray said:

This goes back to our million man march dialog. Assuming someone had the trust or could gain the trust, trust must be earned, of five hundred thousand black men  who attended the march , with your $25 dollar assumption, that twelve million and five hundred dollars? but who canthose 5000,00 trust? you? me ?  iargue none class.

It starts with having a solid plan/agenda, goals and milestones.

 

That requires a herculean effort of oorganization among Black folks especially in a climate of individualism and tribalism.

[Troy]

19 hours ago, richardmurray said:

I will love to know who has bought two packs of cigarettes in a month in nyc ?

There are plenty of people. I was asked to buy a carton of cigarettes here in Florida for someone up in New York City who smokes two packs a day. My mother easily smokes a pack a day and has been doing that for the better part of 3/4 of a century.

 

certainly, we as a people can do a much better job and investing in our own businesses.
 

We do have experience with this already. There are mega churches all over the country that are supported by relatively small contributions by large numbers of people. Some of those churches have schools and provide a wide variety of services for the community in addition to ensuring contributors get into heaven. But churches have all types of tax advantages that regular businesses don’t.

The real issue, I think, is creating wealth for the investors rather than lighting the pockets of some charismatic preacher. It is not just a matter of organizing the investors it’s coming up with the viable business.
 

Alternatively, people can be content in simply contributing to a business without expecting to be rewarded financially. People contribute to my business simply because they want to support what I’m doing, which is beautiful because it actually does help. 

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

We do have experience with this already. There are mega churches all over the country that are supported by relatively small contributions by large numbers of people.

Exactly.

1 hour ago, Troy said:

The real issue, I think, is creating wealth for the investors rather than lighting the pockets of some charismatic preacher.

It's an investment that makes sense to many Black folks especially those who grew up in the church.  They were indoctrinated a long time ago.

 

1 hour ago, Troy said:

It is not just a matter of organizing the investors it’s coming up with the viable business.

Coming up with viable businesses is important.  Educating Black people in investing is even more critical.

 

1 hour ago, Troy said:

Alternatively, people can be content in simply contributing to a business without expecting to be rewarded financially.

All types of charities receive money from donors both small and large.  That includes Black folks too.

 

Unfortunately, some Black folks seem to be hardest on themselves when it comes to trust and doing business with each other.