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OPINION: Meet the hot new app that’s here for the culture.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Have you found yourself increasingly disappointed with Twitter over the past several years? I have too. I’m hungry for something new. Something like Spill, a new Blackcentric social media experience where the leaders are Black and, so far, the audience is Black and clamoring to get in — the Spill app has hit No. 1 in the App store, which is a testament to how much some of us wanted this sort of a space.
I’ve been on Spill for a few days, and it’s so much fun. It’s like walking through a Black party. You feel centered and appreciated and at home. Someone recently Spilled this: “*inhales racism free social media air.*” I had forgotten what that feels like.
Twitter has become as messy as an active crime scene. Nowadays, there are a lot of MAGAs, trolls and bots on there, and they’re all ruining the experience. And suddenly there’s a limit on how many tweets you can view in a day, which makes Twitter small and uninteresting for someone like me who’s used to writing 40 or 50 tweets a day and reading many more. I feel like Elon Musk is personally closing the gates of Twitter and leaving me out. Cool. If he doesn’t want me up in there, then I’m out.
I used to love Black Twitter. I remember watching the NAACP Awards or the Oscars while looking through Black Twitter, and it felt like I was in a roomful of funny Black people. But those sorts of moments have become rare on Twitter. Nowadays, when I go on Twitter, I find myself amazed by how dumb some of the responses are. Or triggered by how openly racist certain people are. Or annoyed by how pathetic their arguments are. When I close the app, I usually feel upset or angered and I need a few minutes to heal. Many times I’ve asked myself why I’m putting up with it. Maybe I felt like Twitter was something I couldn’t avoid. It seemed so central to the American conversation for a long time but suddenly there are lots of other options. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is building Bluesky while Meta is working on Threads. I’m definitely going to check those apps out, but right now, I envision myself spending less and less time on Twitter and more and more time on Spill.
Spill was founded by two former Twitter employees, Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown. Terrell told AfroTech, “Our thesis was if we could build a platform from the ground up that caters to these culture drivers and then solve the core problems that they’re facing, that our community is facing more specifically, that would make for a better experience for everyone.” By “culture drivers” he means the people who create culture — Black women, Black men, LGBTQ people. In other social media spaces, they often get overlooked and uncredited. Spill aims to prioritize them.
Spill is kind of a cross between Twitter and Instagram in that your posts are expected to be short — 90 characters or fewer, so you have to be pithy and direct. It makes Twitter seem like a series of TED Talks. Also, the Spill app encourages you to create GIFs so the whole experience feels more dynamic.
So far, many of the Spills I’ve seen have been about how great it is to be on Spill and cheering about having a Blackcentric space. We need Blackcentric spaces online. They can help us feel seen. They can help empower us. They can help us build community. On Twitter, it’s often an experience that’s very colored by what white people want to discuss. In Spill, I’m seeing GIFs with images of Janelle Monae, James Baldwin, Barack Obama and HBCU marching bands. That’s the sort of stuff that makes me feel at peace. There are no frogs, there are no bad-faith arguments, there are no racists telling me that I’m the real racist. Spill is a down-home experience that makes me feel lifted like a good backyard barbeque. The app is in beta now so you need a code to get in. Work your network and try to get a code or just wait until this party opens its doors wider. My question is after they’re ready to let everyone in, how are they gonna keep this thing so damn Black?
Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s.” He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.
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