Twitter photo in Detroit shows lack of diversity in technology, according to social media

Twitter is once again criticized for its lack of diversity and this time the critics are sent to the Detroit office of the social media company because of a photo posted on his Twitter account.

On March 28, a photo appeared on the Detroit office's Twitter account of the social media company, which opened in 2012, showing CEO Jack Dorsey along with seven other people who appear to be white. There were two other people partially visible in the photo whose races were not determined. The photo was subtitled with an emoji waving the yellow hand.

The photo perfectly reflected the lack of diversity of the information technology industry in general and Twitter in particular, according to some who were outraged by the photo. Anger was amplified for Detroit residents, who pointed out that the Midwestern population was predominantly black. According to the US Census Bureau, blacks represent 79.1% of the city's population.

"Detroit has the highest percentage of blacks in any city in the country, but you do not seem to find one. Interesting …" wrote @MrsDiannaT, from Detroit. A few tweets later, she complained about going home to Detroit in 2017 and staying in downtown, where Twitter's office is, for a drink with friends.

"We were the only blacks in the hip-hop bar," she recalls.

Tee Terei, a Detroit native and poet, wrote that the photo was "gentrification at its best." These are the same people who would have been "scared" of coming to Detroit years ago. "

@BLACKSTEMUSA, a Twitter account managed by C.M. Williams and Sharon Ewell Foster, the authors of the book of the same name published in 2015, were tired of the lack of diversity represented by the photo.

"We gave Twitter the benefit of the doubt for FOUR years," they wrote. "These people do not change to be more inclusive and have no sacred intention to tell the truth about it.The only good thing about: Twitter is that it gives blacks, especially #techies, a better way to connect. * Deep sigh * "

And the user of Twitter @JamieJamie responded to the message saying that the team on the photo "looks like the Fox News team for me".

In 2017, the social media specialist released a report stating that society is increasing diversity in its ranks. But Recode, an information site that covers the technology industry, wrote that the opposite was true. And the same year, USA Today released a report showing that if the company's staff was not very diverse, the user base was.

A day after the publication of the photo and outrage that followed, Twitter Detroit responded. Twitter says that they will meet people from the National Society of Black Engineers.

"We hear you talk about the lack of diversity, we are committed to ensuring that our society reflects the people we serve, and that includes here in Detroit," they wrote. "We still have a lot of work to do."

See how people have reacted to Detroit's photo on Twitter, which shows a lack of diversity in technology.