Black Friday

March 6, 2015 12:27 PM

Today, March 6, is Blackout Day, "a day where black people post, share, reblog, like, and distribute other photos of black people on social media. This includes Tumblr, Instagram, the petri dish known as Facebook, Vine, Twitter, and any other site that allows you to share photos." (FAQ, official master post)
posted by Jacqueline (19 comments total)

As someone who is used to seeing almost exclusively white people in the media and my social circles, I found today's campaign to be a delightfully refreshing change of pace. I figured that all y'all would enjoy it too.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:32 PM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh how interesting this made it here. It has been fun on tumblr.
posted by infini at 12:36 PM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh, it looks like the news media has picked up on it too.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:36 PM on March 6, 2015

As someone who is used to seeing almost exclusively white people in the media and my social circles

I am not trying to be critical but letting you know that you do control your own social feed. You do have the ability to follow other people, celebs, leaders, politicians, artists, athletes, musicians, etc. who are of the non-white complexion. And not just on this day but year round. You're ovbviously allowed to follow who you like and who you don't but if you find your social feeds too one sided, then use today as an opportunity to follow more diverse news/cultural feeds.

Enjoy.
posted by Fizz at 12:38 PM on March 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

infini: I was shocked to discover after a quick search of the front page that it HADN'T made it here yet. This is one of those rare times when I see something timely and think "MetaFilter would like this" and someone hasn't already beat me to posting it. :O
posted by Jacqueline at 12:39 PM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I am not trying to be critical but letting you know that you do control your own social feed.

Oh, I know, and if I followed more celebrities / thought leaders / etc. then I would certainly diversify, but right now I mostly just follow people whom I know personally and I can't even keep up with all of them as it is. :(
posted by Jacqueline at 12:42 PM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's been seriously awesome checking my Tumblr today. I'm a bit wary of the general tags because of rumored shitposting from the usual corners but there's so many great reblogs already.
posted by kmz at 12:45 PM on March 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

Step your game up, people on Vine.
posted by cashman at 1:11 PM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Everything You Need To Know About #BlackOutDay And Why It Matters:

As I scroll through all the black faces on my dash and on Twitter, I can’t help but thinking, "wow, is this the validation that white people get when they see themselves literally everywhere? All day? Everyday?"

posted by Jacqueline at 1:24 PM on March 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

What I find interesting about that quote Jacqueline is that it makes me think about people who are of the majority (race, sexuality, gender, etc.). And how they do not realize how that validation is just sort of taken as a fact, that's it just exists. But for people who are on the margin, they feel that lack of validation consistently.
posted by Fizz at 1:35 PM on March 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

Why didn't I get the memo?!?!? *checks black email*
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:42 PM on March 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

The day's not over yet, Brandon. Share your handsomeness with the world!
posted by Jacqueline at 2:46 PM on March 6, 2015

Why didn't I get the memo?!?!? *checks black email*

Literally sneezed/laughed some coffee on the screen reading this. Thanks for the laugh. Also, immediately made me think of Chris Rock's skit on O.J. Simpson.

"Everyday I check my mailbox for my O.J. prize.....nothing!!"
posted by Fizz at 3:39 PM on March 6, 2015

I'm still pondering this post. I've always assumed that black people were, in general, more active on social media than most other ethnic groups.

I got geeky this afternoon and calculated the actual ethnic breakdown of my 'friends.' And I got 62% White, 12% each Asian and Latin, and 7% each Black and Pacific Islander.

In my news-feed today, the first 50 posts are 40% from white friends, and 20% each from Black, Asian, and Latino friends (the Pacific Islanders seem to be quiet this morning).

I realize that this proves nothing, of course ... Facebook has a mysterious algorithm that pushes certain posts to the top. And each person is going to see something different. I'm mostly tossing this out there as I am a bit surprised at how different my on-line experience is.
posted by kanewai at 3:50 PM on March 6, 2015

I saw so much hotness today looking at that tag.
posted by egypturnash at 6:34 PM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

As someone who is used to seeing almost exclusively white people in the media and my social circles, I found today's campaign to be a delightfully refreshing change of pace.

Tomorrow, feeling delightfully refreshed, a return to the status quo.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:03 PM on March 6, 2015

I liked this. I hadn't heard about it before the day, but all of a sudden it was everywhere. My tumblr dash is still chock full of Blackout selfies circulating around. There's talk of having it regularly on the first Friday of every month. It didn't change the world or anything, but it was nice.
posted by Gordafarin at 12:54 PM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Tomorrow, feeling delightfully refreshed, a return to the status quo.

Apparently some people are pushing to make this is a monthly thing, which might be nice.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:20 PM on March 8, 2015

Oh, and two days later, the tag is still going strong. Mmm.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:24 PM on March 8, 2015