Black Digital Migration Project

The Black Digital Migration project is a collaborative project exploring how Black social media users respond to shifting platform conditions. In the wake of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the collaborative team explored how Musk’s acquisition forced a renegotiation of what behaviours and cultural practices were possible on the site. From an interest in Black user’s discussions of “leaving Twitter,” we began our work as Musk’s Twitter takeover occured. This collaboration necessitated adaptive research methods in response to our rapidly reducing access to data. The Black Digital Migration project seeks to better understand what drives social media users in their decisions to remain upon or move on from social media platforms. This collaboration is led by Dr. Rianna Walcott, Associate Director of the BCaT lab and an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland.