Multiple Twitter accounts were hacked on July 15, resulting in the silencing of most, if not all, verified accounts. Thus began the spectacle known as the Unverified Uprising, during which a chorus of the smaller songbirds of Twitter were allowed to shine as the platform's birds of prey were temporarily muted.
There was strength in numbers as the din of the Unverified Uprising grew and came together to tweet about several different themes. Some of the top themes of the Tweetastic event included situated humor, self-deprecation, dark humor with political undertones, as well as imagined frustration.
There are so many important topics that verified users employ the service to promote and to discuss; yet everything was blocked. While some members of the Verified waited patiently, others devised elaborate strategies to break through the temporary silencing of their tweets. Some strategies included speaking through the tweets of others, situations in which the Unverified and the Verified worked together as a duet to restore communications between their Twitter worlds.
The Unverified Make Their Voices Heard For Once
There were a lot of tweets about the Unverified Uprising and the majority of them were not actually that funny. Instead, taking stock of the seriousness of the situation that developed. However, there were some that did try to put a humorous spin on the events and here are some of the contenders for the best reactions to the Unverified Uprising of July 15, 2020.
Situated Humor (Of the Moment)
The chorus began with a call to action as Jane Manchun Wong sought to determine how the Twitterati, the Verified, were doing. Where had they gone? A pineapple under the sea?
Similar to IRL protest movements in Seattle, the city that became the home of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) before it was cleared, there was also apparently an Autonomous Zone on Twitter.
The Self-Deprecation Side Of Twitter
Sometimes people find that good comes from procrastination; you never know when a generalized Bitcoin scam will suddenly become a personal boon. Sometimes the best humor looks inward and outward at the same time and self-deprecating humor is often a go-to in the arsenal of those seeking to make others laugh.
Dark Humor (With Political Undertones)
There are also darker tools with which to secure the desired reaction and deeper notes with which to complement the chirps of the ordinary Unverified.
Providing the deeper tones of the chorus, a number of Twitter enthusiasts spoke of a swelling revolution or, perhaps, something darker. One wonders whether they had read about recent developments regarding a subscription platform within the Twitterverse, one that might result in the extraction of more rents from the Verified or further disenfranchise the Unverified. The themes of revolution, the removal of the blue checks, as well as the reference to a lord of the canaries type situation that might occur without the tweeters in blue, were especially dark, yet also slightly entertaining.