{"id":93751,"date":"2016-08-15T09:50:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T14:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2016\/08\/15\/the-hashtag-blacklivesmatter-emerges-social-activism-on-twitter\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:17:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:17:10","slug":"the-hashtag-blacklivesmatter-emerges-social-activism-on-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2016\/08\/15\/the-hashtag-blacklivesmatter-emerges-social-activism-on-twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"3. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter emerges: Social activism on Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, social media have become a common way for political groups and social movements to organize. On Twitter\u2019s 10-year anniversary, the site published a list<\/a> of the most used hashtags related to social causes. Two of the top three were directly related to issues of race. According to Twitter, #Ferguson was the most used social-issue hashtag in the 10-year history of the platform, while #BlackLivesMatter was third.<\/p>\n\n

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Along with examining tweets that mentioned race in a general sense, the Center\u2019s analysis looked at all tweets that included the #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags from July 12, 2013, to March 31, 2016. These tweets (13.3 million in total) were then analyzed using Crimson Hexagon\u2019s algorithmic tool to determine their subject matter and tone. (A previous Pew Research Center study<\/a> surveyed Americans on their awareness of and attitudes towards issues of racial equality.)<\/p>\n\n

Historically, hashtags developed as an informal method of highlighting ideas in unformatted text and trying to grow conversation around a topic. In 2009, Twitter began<\/a> to hyperlink and compile hashtags, making them searchable and increasing their utility as identifiers. While most hashtags are developed organically, some groups deliberately use hashtags to promote a message.<\/p>\n\n

In mid-2014, as the issue of use of force by police gained national attention due to several high profile cases involving black men, some activists promoted hashtags as a way to identify their messages and display solidarity.<\/p>\n\n

This was the case with the Black Lives Matter movement. Organizers of Black Lives Matter made social media \u2013 and specifically the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter \u2013 a centerpiece of their strategy. As a result, the growth of the movement offline was directly linked with the online conversation. [8. numoffset=”8″ See the Center for Media and Social Impact\u2019s \u201cBeyond the hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the online struggle for offline justice<\/a>\u201d for a review of how the activist movement utilized online media in 2014 and 2015.]<\/p>\n\n

An early timeline of the #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags<\/h4>\n\n

All told, from its initial appearance in mid-2013 through March 2016, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has appeared on Twitter almost 11.8 million times.<\/p>\n\n

As a direct response to #BlackLivesMatter, some on Twitter began using the hashtag #AllLivesMatter. That hashtag has been used a total of 1.5 million times, about one-eighth as often as #BlackLivesMatter. Over time, the volume of #AllLivesMatter tweets has generally moved in parallel with that of #BlackLivesMatter.<\/p>\n\n

The phrase \u201cblack lives matter\u201d was first used by a black community organizer in a Facebook post<\/a> following the July 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.\u00a0[9. See this March 2016 article in The New Yorker entitled \u201cThe Matter of Black Lives<\/a>\u201d for details about the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement.]\u00a0Despite its widespread presence today, the hashtag was slow to gain prominence: During the second half of 2013, it appeared on Twitter a total of just 5,106 times (or about 30 times a day).<\/p>\n\n

Both the use of the hashtag and the influence of the broader Black Lives Matter movement accelerated greatly in August 2014 when Michael Brown<\/a>, a black teenager, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.<\/p>\n\n

The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag appeared an average of 58,747 times per day in the roughly three weeks following Brown\u2019s death. However, the use of the hashtag increased dramatically three months later when on November 25<\/a>, the day after a Ferguson grand jury decided not to indict the officer involved in Brown\u2019s death, the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag appeared 172,772 times. During the subsequent three weeks, the hashtag was used 1.7 million times.<\/p>\n\n

Since late 2014, #BlackLivesMatter has been a continuous presence on Twitter, but its use has increased around some specific events. These include:<\/p>\n\n