Inside the meaning of the BLK Social Journalist hashtag
By Deron Dalton
#BLKSocialJ is a hashtag I created that means a lot to me. I wanted to share it’s meaning with my followers because some of you have seen me using it and don’t have any idea what it really means.
Well, I created some impact engaging with Black Lives Matter activists while using #BLKSocialJ. I developed a social strategy I have been using for the last nine months, but with great impact also comes great criticisms from time-to-time.
I wanted to create a voice for myself as the BLK Social Journalist (#BLKSocialJ) rather than become an organization.
In my last blog post, I explained the real meaning of social journalism and how I’m applying its processes to serving the Black Lives Matter community. One of the guiding principles of social journalism is community engagement.
I already explained how social journalism isn’t just social media usage. Originally, I joined the inaugural M.A. in social journalism program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism because I wanted to be a social media editor.
Since then, I learned a lot more about the purpose of social journalism: recasting journalism as service that works more collaboratively with communities and helps to develop new techniques and tools for creating solutions.
Social media is still a significant tool for listening and building strong ties to communities. I’ve been covering and engaging with a community that mobilizes online just as much as it does in real-life.
#BLKSocialJ provided me with a way to aggregate news and offer an original voice focused on racial justice issues and Black Lives Matter.
I found my social calling:
I knew coming into the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism M.A. in social journalism program that I wanted to cover and engage with the Black Twitter community. A few weeks into the program, I realized that Black Twitter was far too broad of community for me to tackle. Black Twitter encompasses the cultures, identities and experiences of the Black diaspora, but I needed to find a piece of that to focus my work on.
I came up with the idea to focus on Black millennials and their potential for creating social change with messages and trending topics on Twitter. During the process of listening, I connected with sources including Black millennial writer Arielle Newton, who is now one of my most prominent sources and collaborators.
The one issue that stood out to me is how the community is portrayed in some news media reports. News media responded to the social media campaigns around Black men who were victims of police violence, but at the time, wasn’t really reporting on Black women, queer, and trans victims of police violence and state-sanctioned violence. Earlier this year, Black Lives Matter wasn’t always receiving that kind of adequate coverage. That meant not enough coverage on what had a direct impact on them, what their needs and goals were. Today, not much has changed; although I see good coverage is here and there. There’s still work that needs to be done.
This challenge struck me, and I started building relationships with more prominent voices of the Black Lives Matter network. I found the community that I should serve. It just so happens the community’s identities and experiences are those I relate to and am passionate about.
Based on that passion, in-depth reporting and engagement, I soon learned that throughout Black Lives Matter’s two-year history, it has struggled with a variety of issues: misconceptions of who and what is BLM, backlash after disrupting political rallies, co-optation, racist trolling, and counter-narrative arguments (All Lives Matter, the war on cops and black-on-black crime).
Timing and community immersion became key in effective engagement:
After I found my niche, it was time to interact and continue to build a community of followers.
I used hashtags to engage with my followers including #BlackTransLivesMatter, #BaltimoreUprising and #SayHerName. I mainly garnered followers from mentions and reaching out to them: Mark-Anthony Johnson — organizer in LA, Janisha Gabriel — designer of the Black Lives Matter website, Patrisse Cullors — co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Elle Hearns — strategic partner of Black Lives Matter, and so many more.
Some of my most popular tweets came from my original work that featured trending hashtags and topics I found through my sources.
Timing is also important. If the community is online conversing around an event, tragedy, issues or topics, I try to be too. This can be challenging sometimes.
I crafted plenty of tweets and visual content around breaking news, protests and live events in the spring. These included the brutal beating of University of Virginia student Martese Johnson and when white police officer Michael Slager fatally shot Walter Scott eight times from behind.
But this summer my social media interaction around the McKinney, Texas pool party incident, Charleston church shooting and Rachel Dolezal were very limited. All the events were happening at once, and I needed a mental health and self-care break, especially since the summer semester was so hectic. I often took to Facebook to post here and there about what was going on. It felt like more of personable space where I could post without the chaos and noise of Twitter. My biggest recommendation to folks on Twitter engaging around these issues is take time for yourself; you don’t have to be immersed in every single issue or topic on #BlackTwitter; although tweeting about these experiences are extremely important and urgent.
Instagram visuals rule:
People may think of social media activism as being a Twitter thing, especially with the larger Black Twitter community and other hashtags from social movements popping up from time-to-time. However, plenty of protesters and organizers use visual social platforms to capture these experiences as compelling video or photo.
Instagram’s #BLKSocialJ has proven to be a success for me. During the spring semester I created more than 50 posts of original or aggregated visual content. On average, my videos and photos garnered 15 to 20 likes on the social platform. That might not seem like a lot, but when posting a series of photos and videos together, it is. It’s no secret visual social content does well. In fact, visual content does well on Twitter and Facebook, not just the visual-specific platforms.
Some of the original visual content I created and packaged for other platforms did well on Instagram too: “Instavideo Q&As On Challenges Black Women Face As Victims Of Police Violence,”which was part of a news feature, Why Do We Keep Ignoring All The Black Women Who Die From Police Brutality?, I did for MadameNoire and Photos: Stop Mass Incarceration Network Protests NYPD, Police Brutality in US.
I stopped being afraid to be voicey, then came scrutiny:
Revamping my social presence came with success and scrutiny.
Before joining the social journalism program, I would only tweet straightforward news stories, due to my fear of crossing a line. I was much more comfortable with my voice on Tumblr, microblogging about the intersection of social issues and pop culture — including the Black diaspora, women and feminism, and the LGBT umbrella. I even called my Tumblr “Advocacy Journo” at some point.
Coming up with a social strategy for my curation project in my spring 2015 “Social Media Tools” class meant becoming more “voicey.” A month into the project I made a switch from straightforward news to voicer content, meaning I mixed my own originality and personality to converse around the news, issues and topics related to my niche.
Starting off, I knew I needed facts about racial issues and systemic racism in the U.S. to offer substance. However, amplifying voices, identities and expertise on hard-hitting issues like race and racism still to this day comes with the price of criticism and scrutiny.
Here are examples of “voicey” tweets that got some engagement during the Baltimore Uprising:
Whenever someone decides to stand up and speak up about their lived experiences, they most likely will face counter-narrative arguments.
Journalists deal with trolling all the time. When we cover sensitive or controversial topics, or when we cover social issues and injustices, some trolls will try to provoke hate-driven debates with a lot of back and forth. Also, some social media editors and engagement editors who manage community commentary face trolling as well others in the communities they cover and engage with. This is nothing new.
I faced criticism the moment I decided to add my voice to the community’s issues I covered. Some of that scrutiny came from people in my own personal circles.
Sometimes, people will give you constructive criticism and sometimes that criticism is ignorant. When you are covering race and become known as an expert in doing such, some people just don’t get it. They will try to hold anything and everything you say against you or take it out of context or demand you debate with them.
Black Lives Matter garnered backlash over the summer for disrupting not only a Netroots event, but a Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle. BLM: Seattle activist Marissa Johnson talked with MSNBC Host Tamron Hall about why Black Lives Matter disrupted Sanders’ rally. I shared the video clip of Johnson defending the disruption.
People had been asking me for my opinion on why Black Lives Matter chose this strategy. Also, people had been asking me about WHY BLM chose this tactic (since they consider me the expert of this community now). Initially, I didn’t want to comment on either because I hadn’t taken the time to listen and then, develop a critical analysis on the matter.
Back in August, I posted the clip from MSNBC, and wrote something like, “Folks have been asking me about Black Lives Matter’s disruption, watch for yourself.”
I will only give a synopsis of the situation. Some of my Facebook friends took this as an endorsement. Others understood what I meant by the post was, “instead of asking me what I think,which really doesn’t matter, watch it from a BLM organizer.”
I understand now I needed to be more transparent. I changed it to, “Folks have been asking me about WHY #BlackLivesMatter chose to disrupt Bernie. I think it’s better to watch it for yourself. #blksocialj.” Still, some demanded I’d be clear on my personal opinions about the tactic. Some people, I believe, wanted me to share my specific thoughts so they could criticize it and spark a debate with me about it.
I shared my views on the matter in a follow-up Facebook post.
The incident was a lesson about transparency and thinking critically about what I post. Also, it helped me develop takeaways in conversing about race. Also, it presented the challenge of staying on top of all my critical analyses and to be ready to hand out receipts when needed (facts, sources, research and data).
I learned a lot from challenging conversations about race. I don’t have to respond to anyone on social. I can pick and choose who is worth my time to have a conversation with. Some people only want to be blatantly hateful or say your experiences are invalid. I don’t have any time for that. I do have time for community engagement and actual conversations about these issues under the moniker #BLKSocialJ and beyond.
Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a series of critical analyses documenting the process of social journalism and applying it to covering Black Lives Matter. Also, these essays on BLM will correlate with personal experiences of how I’m dealing with race and systemic racism, and how I’m having conversations about it.
Follow me on Twitter @DeronDalton, @BlkNarratives, and follow the hashtags#BLKSocialJ (BLK Social Journalist) and #BlackNarrativesMatter.
