Twitter is a Special Place

Firstly, I apologize for my late response on our Digital Rhetorics unit in which I was assigned this post. I, for some reason, thought I had it later in the semester. If you're anything like me, this COVID online semester mess has ruined your organization skills. Anyway, moving on! 

One thing that struck some thoughts in me during our conversation on Digital Rhetorics is the separation between each social media platform and how we use each one. We discussed them in terms of Facebook being for older, more conservative individuals, Twitter being for our age group and rampant with dark humor, and even OnlyFans and its focus on NSFW adult content. While this separation in users and usages is clear and definitely distinct, I've noticed lately how much Twitter is becoming a blend of posts.

This may sound confusing, but what I mean here is that screenshots of almost every single social media site has ended up on Twitter for the millennial masses to discuss. Especially during the height of the BLM movement during the summer, screenshots from Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat ended up being posted on Twitter to "expose" individuals for their racist views. Many students, especially prospective athletes, were exposed in this way, their school was tagged, and their athletic offers were rescinded. 

I often see Reddit posts screenshot and put up on Twitter as well. There's even entire accounts devoted to posting Reddit threads on Twitter. One I follow is called "AITA" (Am I the Asshole?), which takes threads of people's stories in which they could be considered "the asshole" of the situation" and lets people comment and vote whether or not they are (example picture below). The Twitter account simply takes pictures of these Reddit posts and puts them on Twitter. They get thousands of interactions this way.

Twitter really is a special app in that we use it in so many different ways and for so many different purposes. But, why do we use Twitter in this way? How is it different from the other apps that we could also use to post screenshots from other social media platforms? What makes Twitter so compatible with these types of posts? While I think a lot of it has to do with who is actually using Twitter, I'd love to know your thoughts.