Twitter launches Black History Month chatbot in celebration of black culture
Looking for new ways to celebrate black history and culture this Black History Month? There's a bot for that.
Blackbirds, Twitter's black employee resource group, launched a chatbot on Feb. 1 to provide users with community-focused facts, information and support. When you DM the @Blackbirds account, the bot will greet you automatically, letting you choose from one of four preset categories: Today in #BlackHistory, #ForTheCause, #SelfCare and #ForTheCulture.
"We recognize the incredible impact of black people and culture on our platform every day, so we wanted to contribute to that conversation in a meaningful way during Black History Month through this bot," Shelby Williams, a member of Blackbirds and a brand planner on Twitter’s Brand Strategy Team, told Mashable.
Users can DM @Blackbirds and access the feature throughout the month of February.
Here's how the options work. Today in #BlackHistory shares one of three lesser-known facts about black history relevant to that particular day. #ForTheCause highlights community events to support the black community in one of five major cities: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. #SelfCare provides simple self-care tips and reminders to help the black community focus on putting themselves first, especially in a tense social and political environment. And #ForTheCulture highlights moments from notable black creators, along with tweets from driving black voices on Twitter.
"Self-love and community were big inspirations when we were building this chatbot, so we wanted to integrate them in a way that would be meaningful to users and allies alike," Williams said.
Twitter's overall theme for this year's Black History Month is #ForTheCulture, a hashtag and philosophy the company says serves to highlight black Americans making a difference — past and present.
"You could say we made this bot #ForTheCulture."
The idea of spotlighting black culture came from the influence of Black Twitter — a network of black Twitter users using the platform to celebrate identity and culture, and creating social change.
"You could say we made this bot #ForTheCulture," Williams said. "Twitter as a whole, and black people on Twitter specifically, influence mainstream conversation in really significant ways — from #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite to #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies. We want to use our channel to recognize that."
In addition to the chatbot, Twitter also relaunched the raised fist emoji accompanying the #BlackHistoryMonth and #BHM hashtags.
Though Twitter has long been critiqued for lacking racial diversity inside the company, the presence and work of Blackbirds serves as a way for the company to support underrepresented employees — and black Twitter users in general. In the last year, the company reportedly exceeded its diversity goals, leading the tech giant to set more ambitious goals for 2017.
The company's celebration of Black History Month through the Blackbirds bot, however, is undoubtedly a reflection of the platform's unique ability to connect and support the black community.
"Whether we formally recognize it or not, [celebrating black history and culture] is not limited to February," Williams said. "In fact, this conversation is happening every day. But having this annual holiday allows us to take a pause to commemorate our past — and look forward to our future."
Topics Social Good Social Media X/Twitter
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
