Black Twitter Gets Its Own Wikipedia Page

On Wednesday, Black Twitter officially received its own Wikipedia^[1] page.

On Wikipedia, Black Twitter is defined as “a cultural identity on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the Black community, particularly in the United States.”

The page cites writer Choire Sicha’s “What Were Black People Talking About On Twitter Last Night^[3]” article as the first reference to the Black Twitter community.

And “Black Twitter” isn’t just a social destination; it is also cited with helping foster social movements. In response to reports of a book deal between a literary agent and Juror B37 in the George Zimmerman case, Black Twitter sent multiple requests^[4] to agent Sharlene Martin to drop the book deal, with Twitter user Genie Lauren even creating and promoting a Change.org^[5] petition.

Through the sheer power of social media, the story managed to get on to CNN^[6].

On Wednesday, Black Twitter officially received its own Wikipedia^[1] page.

On Wikipedia, Black Twitter is defined as “a cultural identity on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the Black community, particularly in the United States.”

The page cites writer Choire Sicha’s “What Were Black People Talking About On Twitter Last Night^[3]” article as the first reference to the Black Twitter community.

And “Black Twitter” isn’t just a social destination; it is also cited with helping foster social movements. In response to reports of a book deal between a literary agent and Juror B37 in the George Zimmerman case, Black Twitter sent multiple requests^[4] to agent Sharlene Martin to drop the book deal, with Twitter user Genie Lauren even creating and promoting a Change.org^[5] petition.

Through the sheer power of social media, the story managed to get on to CNN^[6].

And in response to the outrage,  Martin and the juror eventually dropped^[7] the deal.

African-American tweeters also used the platform^[9], after chef Paula Deen’s alleged racist language became public in June. The Root Editor Tracy Clayton started the #PaulasBestDishes handle to satirize her comments.

According to a Pew Research Center^[11] report, 26 percent of African Americans on the Internet use Twitter compared to 14 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. Eleven percent of African-American Twitter users admitted to using the network at least once a day.

As soon as the news of a “Black Twitter” Wikipedia page hit the net, though, Black Twitter blew up.

nancioishiphop tweeted:

Such is the fascination w/Black Twitter that there’s a Wiki page? Like a whole, quoted & referenced Wiki page dawg?”

Stefan Twerquelle noted:

After seeing that Black Twitter Wikipedia page I think I’m officially over this entire thing.

Sound off!