Did Twitter Save the Caribbean?

I remember when I first made my Twitter account in 2010. I wasn’t sure what the exact purpose was, and none of my friends had accounts. So like a lot of other young people, the first set of accounts I followed were celebrities. Oprah was one of them. I don’t totally know why. Probably because my mother used to watch her daytime show and I had no choice but to. I followed Lady Gaga too – I was going through a phase. Essentially, I spent the first few months on Twitter talking to myself and then gave up on it.

In 2012, I somehow resurfaced there again, probably because I knew more people there at the time and I could talk to actual people instead of looking crazed by only telling myself“what’s happening”. I’d like to think this was the general experience of most people. In due time, I began making friends with people in other secondary schools and disregarding the “don’t talk to strangers on the internet” thing. But really, that ship sailed when everyone was connecting with random people on Omegle.

I didn’t meet many of my new Twitter friends for months. The first few that I did meet were usually the other students that I could find at national sports meets. It was an interesting time. I had, and continue to have an interesting dynamic with people that I’ve never met.

This is part of the focus of today’s post. I cannot put a time frame on it, eventually, I fell into ‘Lucian Twitter’, where the references were easy to understand, the inside jokes never stopped and the topics could easily go from story-time jokes to reasonable discussions on politics. I had always followed 2 or 3 random people from other islands – usually Jamaica, but at some point, something changed and I became well aware of “Caribbean Twitter”.

I want to attribute this to a conversation that started about a certain follower hating fried plantains (I hope he sees this), and eventually cannonballed into a full-blown “Island War”. Those easily became one of Caribbean Twitter’s favourite hobbies – a way to show off your large collection of insults and local swear words. I think these exchanges are the main reason why so many islands now know St. Lucia’s national word.

It’s my firm opinion that Caribbean Twitter has done much more for regional integration in the space of a year than numerous multi-island organizations have done in decades. Before anyone tries to verbally attack me, I know that we have not enacted any policies or made transformative laws over on Twitter. Yet, the social connections that have been forged regionally are unmatched.

The general ebbs and flows of Caribbean Twitter are interesting to observe. In the morning, someone might be heavily insulted by a statement from somebody in a different island, and in the afternoon they might be planning which Carnivals they’ll meet up at in 2019.

Speaking of Carnival, I am no expert on regional festivities, but I’d like to believe that regional carnivals have grown because of the interactions on Twitter. How many of you planned elaborate Carnival hopping trips before Twitter made it so popular? I might be wrong, but you cannot deny that Twitter has become one of the region’s biggest marketing tools.

Caribbean Twitter has functioned as a means of sharing culture, knowledge and experiences, making friends and discussing regional issues. I now know how votes on the CCJ issue went around the region. I know why Grenadian teachers are taking industrial action. Admittedly, I could have found out all of this on the news, but regional news isn’t as accessible as a social media app that is always at everyone’s fingertips.

Despite the regular spats, debating with Caribbeans (which in itself is a major uniting factor), and complaining about which island has the best KFC, I like to think of Caribbean Twitter as the uniting factor that saved the day. More young WestIndians are now actively planning island-hopping vacations with their friends beyond the screen. I’m hoping somebody takes me to Bequia soon. I don’t know if I would have ever known how gorgeous it is if I had completely abandoned Twitter after following Oprah.

In memory of Oshnel, who was one of my first regional followers.