Kimberly C. Ellis and the power of 'black Twitter'

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Kimberly C. Ellis, also known as Dr. Goddess, embraced Twitter in 2009 and has watched it become a main source of news to many, herself included. Ellis saw how Twitter has helped young African-Americans educate themselves about modern-day politics. This is why her 2012 SXSW panel discussion was entitled The Bombastic Brilliance of Black Twitter. Black Enterprise reports that the purpose of her panel was to show that African Americans use Twitter for more than just entertainment/

Kimberly C. Ellis joined twitter in 2009 but she didn’t understand its influence in the black community until the G-20 economic summit was held in her hometown of Pittsburgh. On Twitter, Ellis, also known in the social media space as Dr. Goddess, decided to follow the G-20 hashtag, which provided a stream of tweets from locals regarding heads of government, finance ministers, and central bank governors who descended upon her town.

She decided to go there and saw police corralling the crowd, people getting arrested and broken glass on the ground. “I started to tweet about the confusion, the fear and the mayhem,” said Ellis, a political activist, columnist, author, playwright, and entertainer, with a Ph.D. in American studies. Even though mainstream media outlets were present, she realized she became a newsfeed for reporters as the situation unfolded. “Why were my tweets becoming a primary source,” she asked herself.

That experience inspired her to embrace Twitter and her appreciation for the microblogging platform grew. She quickly learned that she could use it to promote her personal brand through her company, Dr. Goddess Arts, Education and Management.

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