In March of 2012, writer Kimberly Ellis (a.k.a.
On December 13th, the African American news site News One published a 'Black Twitter History' infographic (shown below). On January 18th, 2011, The Root published an article titled 'Black Twitter: Trending Topics Paint the Wrong Picture,' reporting that black people make up 25% of all Twitter users. In response, many Twitter users made parody versions of the image, dressing the bird in a variety of different costumes (shown below, middle, right). The article featured an illustration of a Twitter bird with brown feather and a blue baseball cap with a hashtag printed on it (shown below, left), which many regarded as stereotypical and offensive.
Brown Twitter Birdīrown Twitter Bird is a cartoon character and Twitter hashtag inspired by a controversial Slate article published on August 10th, 2010. The article contained useful tips for using Twitter, arguing that the black community is a 'powerful force' on the microblogging site. The earliest known use of the term 'Black Twitter' was in the title of an article titled 'Black Twitter: A Starter Kit,' which was published on the African American culture online magazine The Root on February 4th, 2010. Black Twitter is an online social movement made of people of African American descent using the microblogging and social networking site Twitter.
