Some Positivity: African Americans Utilize Social Media for a Common Good

Nyshia Taylor, YourBlackWorld

According to a recent study at Northwestern University African American college students spend more time on Twitter than their collegiate counterparts. The study also claims that African Americans spend the majority of their time on Twitter and other social media outlets researching entertainment news instead of more serious issues such as politics and social issues, but this may not necessarily be true.

A new study at Georgetown University shows that African American and Hispanic users of social media sites are more likely to become involved in social issues.  When asked if they felt "more likely to support a cause or social issue online than offline”, 30 percent of African Americans said they are “more likely” to support a social issue online and 39 percent of Hispanics  answered “more likely”.  When asked the same question only 24 percent of Caucasians answered “more likely”.

According to the study African Americans and Hispanics also view social media outlets as effective ways of “getting the word out”, and believe supporting causes is easier via social media outlets.  Overall, all ethnicities consider social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr as major sources of information.