twitter and hate speech
i am relatively new to the twitter phenomenon. while i've had an account for months, i've just recently began using it on a regular basis. at first, it just seemed like yet another account i would have to update with the same old information as all my other social media accounts.
however, once i really delved into the twit-o-sphere, i discovered the difference. you can do a search and find other like minded tweeps...and it's done with a short burst of clever banter. twitter leaves no room for rambling or pontificating. it's blogging for the new generation - those of us who have a 5 second attention span.
quick lesson about twitter: people use the hash mark (#) before a word to allow their tweet to be searched and counted around a particular topic. so, say you wanna find other women who are lesbian or interested in "lesbian" type topics. go to search and enter #lesbian.
i did this a few weeks ago, all that came up was a bunch of male produced "lesbian" porn spam ads. now thanks to the "report spam" button and legit lesbian postings, you might actually find something non-porny that has to do with lesbian interest.
now on to the prop 8 trial and twitter. all kinds of folks are trying to get the word out, not just to our community, but the straight community about why this trial is so important - it will likely go the us supreme court. quite a few tweets have been encouraging others to retweet (rt) messages with #prop8 in the title so that it will become a trending topic (tt.) trending topics show up on the front page of twitter and garner lots of attention. sadly, we haven't been able to make it a trending topic yet. such valuable and socially relevant topics such as conan vs leno and "ghetto remedies" have trumped our fight for equal rights.
this is the most important civil rights trial in a generation and will affect millions of americans. we need at least one day at the top of trending topics...it will help get the word out to the mainstream community that we are here and what the fight is all about.
one last word about twitter. i've discovered that it's a hotbed for homophobic hate speech. searching a few nights ago, i found tweets telling "fags to drink acid" that "dykes were going to hell" and that "all you nasty gays should die." i can safely say i've read over 30 tweets that would be considered hate speech in the last week. i don't know why this is allowed...if someone posts this type of hate speech, their account should be immediately removed.
i have a feeling that race related hate speech would garner an immediate response. what if some racist ass tweeted that "all blacks should strung up from a tree." imagine that as an african american you had to read statements like this every day? why is there a double standard when it comes to homophobia?
i realize that policing online communities is a difficult job. however, there is no middle ground for hate speech. if you post it, you should have your account cancelled. period.
get tweeting folks. get the word out. we need to gather our army, the fight has just begun.
however, once i really delved into the twit-o-sphere, i discovered the difference. you can do a search and find other like minded tweeps...and it's done with a short burst of clever banter. twitter leaves no room for rambling or pontificating. it's blogging for the new generation - those of us who have a 5 second attention span.
quick lesson about twitter: people use the hash mark (#) before a word to allow their tweet to be searched and counted around a particular topic. so, say you wanna find other women who are lesbian or interested in "lesbian" type topics. go to search and enter #lesbian.
i did this a few weeks ago, all that came up was a bunch of male produced "lesbian" porn spam ads. now thanks to the "report spam" button and legit lesbian postings, you might actually find something non-porny that has to do with lesbian interest.
now on to the prop 8 trial and twitter. all kinds of folks are trying to get the word out, not just to our community, but the straight community about why this trial is so important - it will likely go the us supreme court. quite a few tweets have been encouraging others to retweet (rt) messages with #prop8 in the title so that it will become a trending topic (tt.) trending topics show up on the front page of twitter and garner lots of attention. sadly, we haven't been able to make it a trending topic yet. such valuable and socially relevant topics such as conan vs leno and "ghetto remedies" have trumped our fight for equal rights.
this is the most important civil rights trial in a generation and will affect millions of americans. we need at least one day at the top of trending topics...it will help get the word out to the mainstream community that we are here and what the fight is all about.
one last word about twitter. i've discovered that it's a hotbed for homophobic hate speech. searching a few nights ago, i found tweets telling "fags to drink acid" that "dykes were going to hell" and that "all you nasty gays should die." i can safely say i've read over 30 tweets that would be considered hate speech in the last week. i don't know why this is allowed...if someone posts this type of hate speech, their account should be immediately removed.
i have a feeling that race related hate speech would garner an immediate response. what if some racist ass tweeted that "all blacks should strung up from a tree." imagine that as an african american you had to read statements like this every day? why is there a double standard when it comes to homophobia?
i realize that policing online communities is a difficult job. however, there is no middle ground for hate speech. if you post it, you should have your account cancelled. period.
get tweeting folks. get the word out. we need to gather our army, the fight has just begun.
