When making a profile for the Black Twitter App, one in every of the prompts asks what are you speculated to put in your grits: sugar or salt? In the event you answer incorrectly, prospective users are redirected to Twitter.com.
This was one in every of the humorous hallmarks Jordana Wright, 34, intentionally wrapped into the coding of what she calls the Black people’s version of Twitter, a platform built nearly a 12 months before the now embattled social media company was thrown into disrepair. Black Twitter— the web community made up of highly engaged and characteristically influential Black users—has develop into a commonplace of comfort for marginalized groups. Mournings, musings, revelations and communal support have taken place throughout the Twitter subgroup for years and up to date threats to the viability of the app have sparked conversations about how invaluable the sect really is.
As Jason Parham identified in his Wired.com essay on the potential demise of Twitter on account of its recent leader’s consistent missteps, ‘there’s no alternative for Black Twitter.‘ Nonetheless, Wright hopes to supply one other place of refuge in its stead should it disappear.
“It’s something that can’t be replicated, and I definitely don’t hope for Twitter’s downfall in any respect,” the founder and software developer told ESSENCE. “I would like it to proceed as a very important place for everybody. There’s space for various forms of social media platforms, however the Black Twitter App serves a special need.”
This need she speaks of is the community’s uncanny ability to show life’s most abhorrent, stressful, and all-around terrible moments into humor. From re-terming the damaging COVID-19 Omicron variant into the Omarion variant in reference to the famed pop singer, to planning a “homegoing” service for the Twitter app itself (complete with a funeral program), Black Twitter truly holds healing powers.
Although Wright’s Black Twitter App went live in April 2022, a big uptick in interest took place as news of Elon Musk’s controversial actions gained fervor. To this point, she says the platform accrued greater than 10,000 users in lower than six months with notables like Luvvie Ajayi and April Reign (founding father of #OscarsSoWhite) as faithfuls.
“I’ve met a few of my best friends on Black Twitter…secured a few of my biggest skilled opportunities there and truthfully have shared the most important moments of my life with that community, and I do know I’m not alone,” Wright shared with ESSENCE.
Within the event Twitter devolves, Wright has reimagined its characteristic interface to supply the same user experience, but with culturally connected touch points. As an example, the Black Twitter App‘s avatar sports African phenotypic features and the news feed configuration is deemed The Cookout.
“I kept the Black experience top of mind with every step I took in constructing this app,” Wright shared. “Some users even said they’d wish to see Wakanda’s purple and black color scheme implemented into our brand aesthetic and I’m seriously considering it. Even something like that’s so incredible because on my platform, Black voices will not be only heard, but validated and activated. It’s truly a spot designed for our very specific and unique culture to thrive.”
Wright hopes to leverage the app’s fast warm reception into investor dollars to expand her team, as she is currently a one-woman-show.
“It’s insanely expensive and really tiring running this app–I’m doing it on their lonesome,” she said. Wright also acknowledged that while overall VC investment in Black woman founders is bleak, she has hope that the importance of the app will solicit funding interest.
Undoubtedly it should.
Oh, and by the way in which, when you were wondering, the proper answer to that aforementioned entry query is salt, but you already knew that, right?
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