
Race Relations Key Social Media Element, For US Blacks
Sumaira FH Published August 15, 2016 | 10:36 PM

WASHINGTON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th August, 2016) - Social media has become a key forum for discussing US race relations -- but far more so for blacks than whites, a study showed Monday. The Pew Research Center report found black social media users in the United States are roughly twice as likely as whites -- 68 to 35 percent -- to say that race relations are a part of their social networking conversations. The report comes amid a growing social movement using #BlackLivesMatter and related hashtags following the deaths of African-Americans in police custody. Among black social media users, 28 percent said most or some of what they post is about race or race relations but just eight percent of whites said the same, Pew found. Meanwhile two-thirds of whites who use social media said that none of things they post or share pertain to race, the researchers said. Some analysts give networks such as Twitter credit for popularizing social justice movements. At the time of the social network's 10th anniversary this year, it noted that #Ferguson was the top social hashtag, emerging after the police shooting of an unarmed black youth in the Missouri town.
"Social media also can serve as an important venue where groups with common interests come together to share ideas and information," the study authors wrote. "And at times, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites can help users bring greater attention to issues through their collective voice." The researchers said the tone of social media conversations changed after the shootings this year of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which fueled a rise in the hashtags #AllLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter. "There was a dramatic rise in the share of tweets criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement using that hashtag in our July analysis and a drop in the share of tweets that supported the movement," the researchers said. "The rise in critical tweets was especially notable after the killing of police officers in Dallas." The survey was based on interviews from February 29 to May 8 among a national sample of 3,769 adults, with a margin of error for the full group estimated at 2.3 percentage points.
Related Topics
Recent Stories

India cannot take unilateral decision on Indus Water Treaty: Federal Minister fo ..

Drug trafficker gets 9-year jail

Zimbabwe Air Chief calls on Air Marshal Zaheer Sidhu

CDA signs MoU to digitize financial system aims for cashless Islamabad

Welcome ceremony for newly admitted held at Bakhtawar Cadet Collage

Suspending Indus water treaty by India violation of Int’l laws: Minister for D ..

Obesity among youth causing early heart attacks in Pakistan: Dr Wajiha Javed

MoU signed for upgrading of Gadani shipbreaking yard

Allama Iqbal Literary Awards Ceremony organizes in Quetta

Pakistan to launch Sovereign Domestic Green Sukuk in May: Khurram Schehzad

APC opposes proposed KP Mines & Mineral Bill 2025

Delegation from ITUC calls on acting speaker
More Stories From World
-
IAEA chief voices interest in UN secretary-general post
7 minutes ago -
Swiatek glad for high expectations ahead of Madrid title defence
16 minutes ago -
Football: Spanish La Liga results
26 minutes ago -
Prosecutors at Harvey Weinstein rape retrial say he made women 'small'
26 minutes ago -
I.Coast opposition calls marches against leader's eviction from electoral race
36 minutes ago -
Rohit, Boult star as Mumbai surge into IPL top four
56 minutes ago
-
Football: Spanish La Liga table
56 minutes ago -
Football: Italian Serie A table
1 hour ago -
Football: Italian Serie A results
2 hours ago -
French president announces economic deals with Madagascar
2 hours ago -
Boeing says China not accepting planes over US tariffs
2 hours ago -
Uzbekistan rises in global economic complexity rankings, outpacing regional peers
3 hours ago