Black Twitter changed the way that television is watched, developed and produced and made the practice of watching television and engaging on social networks simultaneously second nature. Shows were blocked from airing, taken off the air, and others were revived because of Black Twitter’s activism during its golden era.

In the new book Black Social Television: How Black Twitter Changed Television, American University School of Communication Journalism Professor Sherri Williams traces the digital activism of the Black social television audience, a subset of Black Twitter, as it defended representations of Black people and pushed back against harmful images that had long been used to justify their oppression, Williams said.

“People acknowledge that Black Twitter was a force that championed social justice movements but they don’t always realize that it also advocated for a representation revolution on television,” she said. “Black people’s digital activism on Twitter got stereotypical shows cancelled, held advertisers accountable for supporting those shows and amplified the work of Black creatives as they used social media to break into Hollywood.”

SOC will host a book talk for Williams on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. in the McKinley Building’s Doyle Forman Theater. Helena Andrews-Dyer, a pop culture reporter at the Washington Post, will join Williams in a conversation exploring Black Twitter’s influence on the creation and execution of dynamic and multidimensional television representations of Black people.

Black Social Television is a valuable documentation of Black viewers’ cultural influence, said Andrews-Dyer, the author of three books.

"Sherri Williams' book Black Social Television proves once again how important Black audiences are to the broader culture conversation,” Andrews-Dyer said. “They create it. They drive it. They harness it. From Scandal to #OscarsSoWhite, social viewing started in Black online spaces, has been at the center of some of the most impactful cultural moments and movements of the past 20 years. Black Social Television provides readers with the history and context behind an ever evolving cultural force."

Jessie Tepper, Williams’s book editor, said, “Sherri Williams examines the vital digital activism carried out by the Black social TV audience in advocating for social equality and change. Williams crucially weaves in contemporary events, including COVID-19 and Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, to bring this analysis into the current digital and social landscapes.”

Williams, an award-winning journalist, conducted original interviews for this book. #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign explains how her strategic digital activism using #NoConfederate crushed the show about contemporary slavery before it aired. Kendall Kyndall, a content creator and actor, explains the important role of social media influencers in television. Alphonzo "Phonz" Terrell, creator of the Black-owned app SPILL, which he created after he was fired from Twitter after Elon Musk acquired it, explains why his app could be the new home for the Black social TV audience after its Twitter exodus.

Black Social Television, Williams said, is also intended to document the unique ways that Black people used social media to connect during the pandemic, particularly with Club Quarantine and Verzuz.

Register for the free Black Social Television book talk on AU main campus on Feb. 19