#BlackTags and Twitter

I stumbled across this article on TheSocietyPages.org. "A multi-disciplinary blog about what makes cultures “thick” (public discourse, multiculturalism, technology, and civic engagement)."

http://thesocietypages.org/thickculture/

I have just recently been exposed to the endless possibilities Twitter offers in the social media world. I instantly became addicted. Within seconds, I can inform the world my opinion & qualms on everything from Nordstrom's private clearance sale to the annual mass murdering of 27,000 dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Twitter is great like that. You can be involved with so many various conversations there are no limits. I've been involved in conversations about PR, local non-profit organizations, celebrities, health & fitness. Just about anything that I find intriguing. Which is why I found this posting to be of importance to our multicultural & diversity in technology class discussion.

The author addresses the trends of Twitter within black culture. A currently top trending hashtag, #ghettospellingbee is the focus of this discussion. This hashtag is basically a joke. Users poke fun at the cultural use of language by black people. For example, "#ghettospellingbee TaeKwonDo: I'm bout to go knock on taekwondo and see if he home." Another, "#ghettospellingbee INITIATE: Me and big keisha was chillin right, first she ate all the watermelon, initiate all the chicken."

So basically they are making fun of "ghetto slang." But the posting also brings up this point:

“Black people—specifically, young black people—do seem to use Twitter differently from everyone else on the service. They form tighter clusters on the network—they follow one another more readily, they retweet each other more often, and more of their posts are @-replies—posts directed at other users. It’s this behavior, intentional or not, that gives black people—and in particular, black teenagers—the means to dominate the conversation on Twitter.”

 I just feel like African Americans sometimes take their stereotype and run with it, but then if a non-black joins in they are so quickly called a racist. African Americans are the ones who are mostly contributing to this conversation.

So some questions I have concerning this are...
- Do different cultures & racial groups utilize social media outlets like Twitter for significantly different purposes?
- If black cultures use social media outlets to exploit & poke fun at their stereotypes; What majority really finds humor in them?
- Search #whitegirlproblems -- Ex: "Beatrice the Kindle officially broken. Whomp. Thanks to Amazon CS for helping me out & sending me a new one this week. #whitegirlproblems"Do all cultural groups find humor in their own idiosyncrasies?