Black Women are the creative forces behind social media culture. But there’s a dark side.

It’s still Women's History Month! And shout out to Black Women who are lucky enough to have two months celebrating us back-to-back (lol) 💁🏿‍♀️

As a social media marketer, I can’t help but notice how much Black women have impacted social media culture. Take the Shade Room, for example, created by Angelica Nwandu, 10 years ago. The Shade Room has since been credited for revolutionizing celebrity gossip with its now 29+ million followers on Instagram. For reference, TMZ has 6.5 million followers on Instagram.

Our influence doesn’t stop at Instagram. On Tik Tok, the viral Renegade dance was created by Jalaiah Harmon, a black teen from Atlanta. The Renegade was one of the dances that popped off in 2020 and put Tik Tok on the map in the US. But Jalaiah shared her frustration with not getting the credit she deserved for creating the dance. In fact, Charli D’Amelio, a white teen with a whopping 152.3 Million followers, was deemed the Renegade’s “C.E.O.” for popularizing it [1].

Compensation and Inclusion

On top of not getting credit, Black women aren’t getting the bag they deserve. I recently learned that female influencers, who make up 85% of the influencer market, are paid 30% less than their male counterparts [2]. But unfortunately the wage gap is even wider comparing Black and non-Black creators. A 2021 study found that Black creators, on average, made 35% less than white creators [3]. And this doesn’t even take into account that certain niches that Black creators often have are undervalued.

A Tik Tok creator I follow, Anakya She (sidenote: she created the series ‘Trying It Darker” where she does God’s work by showing how beauty products look on darker skin, since many of these brands fail to advertise how their products look on dark skin) talks about her experience doing wig content and how little wig influencers actually make, despite how much they help wig brands earn in sales. It’s hard to ignore that the majority of wig influencers are Black women. So it’s not surprising to find that influencers in that niche are undercompensated.

In addition to getting paid less, Black creators are often left out of opportunities. Last year Tarte Cosmetics got backlash for the lack of diversity and presence of Black women on a luxury brand trip to Dubai. Months later, the brand came under fire again when the Black women invited on a trip accused Tarte of second-class treatment compared to other influencers [4].

Digital Blackface

A few years ago I learned about the term ‘digital Blackface.’ It’s basically when Non-Black people routinely use Blackness online in a way that treads the line of mockery. Kimberly "Sweet Brown" Wilkins, the woman who unintentionally went viral in 2012 for saying “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” when recalling how she narrowly escaped an apartment. While we can all agree the clip was hilarious, white people used the unflattering photo of Sweet Brown a little too liberally. And unfortunately, this is just one of many examples that come to mind.

Cyberharassment

I had fun during my stint as a Tik Tok creator. But I’d be lying if I said it was all fun. I was routinely harassed, typically by Black men, who criticized my appearance and specifically my complexion. Unfortunately, my experience wasn’t unique. According to research by Amnesty International, Black Women are the most abused group on the Twitter [5]. In fact, Black Women are 84% more likely to be targeted than their white peers.

I think many of us remember the trolling Gabby Douglas faced during the 2012 London Olympics. Despite becoming the first Black gymnast to win the Olympic all-around, she was ridiculed for her natural hair.

Last year I witnessed a disgusting display of cyberharassment towards Black women on Twitter when Grand Theft Auto VI started circulating visuals for the new release of the video game. A few users tweeted that they’d specifically attack the Black female background characters in the video game world. So… even fictional Black women are being attacked and blasted on Twitter.

Closing Thoughts

The amount of evidence showing the influence that Black women have on cyberculture is overwhelming. And social media has become a space for us to be creative, promote our businesses and create a community. However, until we get the pay and recognition we deserve, social media will continue to be yet another space that serves others at our expense. Thankfully the misogynistic and colorist cyberbullying that I faced as a creator has not pushed me away from pursuing a career as a social media professional. Instead, it’s only motivated me to do everything in my power to promote a culture online that promotes equality and respect.