Facebook Is a Better Platform Than Twitter for Discussing Racial Injustice
Neither are perfect, but Facebook might be the lesser of two evils right now
The world has been watching the daily protests and riots caused by the murder of George Floyd. Those following the protests on social media might also be looking for the language, facts, figures, histories, and stories that explain how we got to this point. Journalists and academics work to fill in those gaps, covering the protests and writing about issues of racial injustice. They make threads giving historical context, publish and share reporting, and give book recommendations — largely on Twitter. But, though Twitter is an important tool for accessing and spreading information during this societal upheaval, Facebook may be the better platform for educating readers.
Studies from the Pew Research Center in 2019 show that Twitter is disproportionately used by people who are more highly educated. And the vast majority (80%) of tweets come from a small minority of Twitter users (10%). So tweeting out content and historical context is more likely to enter socioeconomic and political echo chambers than reach the audiences who would benefit the most from learning about how issues of race, class, and other historical factors erupted this week. Those tweets are likely to…
