Quite a few eyebrows were raised when the BBC tried to explain shitposting last night. On Brexitcast, political editor Laura Kuenssberg tried to explain the term - however, many on the internet were quick to point out that she'd got the definition wrong.
She attempted to explain the term by saying, ‘Political parties or campaign groups make an advert that looks really rubbish and then people share it online saying “oh I can’t believe how shit this is”, and then it gets shared and shared and shared and shared and they go “ha ha job done.”’
However, a quick Google search would show you this is not exactly the definition. Urban Dictionary describes the term as, ‘The constant posting of mildly amusing but usually unfunny memes, videos or other pictures that are completely random or unrelated to any discussions.’ (For example, this is like when a popstar tries to promote something on Twitter - and fans from another fanbase will post GIFs in the reply about their favourite star instead.)
Meanwhile, Wikipedia describes it as, ‘posting large amounts of content "aggressively, ironically, and of trollishly poor quality" to an online forum or social network, in some cases intended to derail discussions or otherwise make the site unusable to its regular visitors.’ (So this is like Facebook groups where millennials pretend to be baby boomers, posting statuses and memes pretending to be in their fifties because they think it's funny.)
Digital culture writer for the New Statesman Sarah Manavis wrote about Keunssberg on Twitter, ‘This isn’t what shitposting is and I fear what the implications are of the BBC so confidently “explaining” internet culture terminology and getting it so wildly wrong.’ Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru- Murphy retweeted the BBC’s video and added, ‘The night shitposting died.’
The term was used during the 2016 presidential election, when the Republicans used memes to aid their campaign. Recently, the Conservatives have been accused of using the approach, when the party simply posted its slogan in comic sans, which was widely mocked online.
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