Shitposting is posting "aggressively, ironically, and of trollishly poor quality" posts or content to an online forum or social network. Shitposts are intentionally designed to derail discussions or cause the biggest reaction with the least amount of effort possible. Sometimes they are made as part of a coordinated flame war to make the site unusable to its regular visitors.
Shitposting throughout history
Shitposting is a modern form of provocation on the internet, but the concept is not new. Early 20th century art movements such as dadaism or surrealism created art that was intentionally low quality, or offensive to provoke the art world. Writing in Polygon, Sam Greszes compared shitposting to Dadaism's "confusing, context-free pieces that, specifically because they were so absurd, were seen as revolutionary works both artistically and politically". Greszes writes that the goal of shitposting is "to make an audience so confused at the lack of content that they laugh or smile".
In modern politics
The political uses of shitposting came to prominence during the 2016 United States presidential election. In May of that year, The Daily Dot wrote that a shitpost is "a deliberate provocation designed for maximum impact with minimum effort". In September 2016 the pro-Trump groupNimble America received widespread media attention. The Daily Beast described the group as "dedicated to 'shitposting' and circulating internet memes maligning Hillary Clinton". In September 2016 The Independent wrote that shitposting is an apolitical "tool that can be put to a variety of effects". However, posts such as these appeared long before the 2016 US presidential election. Engineering & Technology magazine wrote that "shitposting, whether from the left or right, is perilously close to delivering an online metastasis of Orwell's Two-minute Hate ". In November 2016, Esquire magazine wrote that "internet mockery was emerging as a legitimate political technique: shitposting. Maybe the 2020 election would be all shitposting." In March 2018, talking about Facebook group New Urbanist Shitposting or New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens, Chicago magazine defined it as "posts that are meant to be awkward and irrelevant, aggravating and distracting social media communities from discussing their topic at hand". In 2019, the BBC's political editorLaura Kuenssberg incorrectly described shitposting as "political parties or campaign groups make an advert that looks really rubbish and people share it online saying, 'Oh I can't believe how shit this is' then it gets shared and shared and shared and shared and they go, 'Ha ha ha, job done.'" The Financial Times said the correct description of shitposting was "posting ostentatiously inane and contextless content to an online forum or social network with the effect of derailing discussion". It gave the example of Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson's being forced to deny she had killed squirrels for fun after online trolls made up a story about her having done so.
Trouble defining the term
Shitposting is often misunderstood in popular culture; journalist Jessica Lindsay qualified it with an actual definition:
Shitposting is nothing of value. It is the online equivalent of shooting tin cans with a spud gun in a patch of wasteland. It's repeating what the person you're with says in a stupid voice until they give up and go home. The idea that shitposting is some media trick that's been harnessed by the Tory party with their Comic Sans posters defeats entirely the point of the act; to be stupid with no inherent goal.
While shitposting has in and of itself no ideology, some shitposters have been connected to real life acts of terrorism.
Before beginning his bloody spree, the Christchurch shooter—presumably the same person who wrote the manifesto—announced his intentions to 8chan's /pol/ board. He opened by saying it is "time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post".
Brenton Tarrant posted on 8chan with links to his live streamed shooting, a more extreme version of the popular 4chan. Professor Greg Barton, an expert on terrorism from Deakin University, said racist "shitposting" is common across the internet, and is a way for people to connect and gain attention. "The thing about social media is that it's social. You want some feedback, you want people to like your stuff whether it's Instagram or Facebook," he said. "Shitposting is all about getting your profile up, getting a response and the more ironic and funny you can be the more you get."
In popular culture
Not all shitposting is political, and is sometimes done for artistic reasons, or to express frustration with the world. The Storm Area 51 event that gained worldwide attention was created by an account called "Shitposting cause im in shambles". The creator of Minecraft's soundtrack, C418, has described himself on his website as "what you would call, a, uh, shitposter"..
