(The Root) — It's time to start voting for next year's South by Southwest panels, and one is of particular interest to black people in the Twitter world.
This year's proposed panels for the event — a conglomerate of music, film and interactive festivals held yearly in Austin, Texas — range from Internet law to cat videos. Somewhere nestled therein is a panel organized by DigitalUndivided about black Twitter and its impact.
"How the Black Twitterverse is Changing Pop Culture" is all about the footprint — or fingerprint? — that our tweets are leaving on the world around us, from television to social justice. The panel's speakers will include Kimberly C. Ellis, Funky Dineva of FunkyDineva.com, Kathryn Finney of DigitalUndevided and me, your friendly neighborhood Grapevine editor representing The Root and The Chatterati.
To vote for the panel, click the thumbs-up icon in the upper-left-hand corner of the panel's page. You'll need to sign up for an account if you haven't already, but it's a quick process, and totally worth it! With everyone clamoring to tell the story of black Twitter, it's important to make sure our voices are among those being heard.
Hopefully we'll see you in Austin next year!
Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.