From Literature 2.0 to Twitterature or Xerature: The Birth and Canonicity of Nigerian Xerature

The study investigates what constitutes Nigerian Twitterature (Xerature), its evolution, reading modalities, and how to canonise this local Twitterature for mainstream scholarship amid the digital revolution. Twitterature emerged with short-form, nano-linguistic, multimodal expression on Twitter/X, shaped by character limits (140→280) and digital semiotics, and influenced by declining attention spans among youth (from 12 to 8 seconds between 2000 and 2015). It is polymorphic like print literature but distinct in its digital materiality and global reach, aided by tools such as Google Translate and X’s Grok AI for editing, image generation, coding assistance, and queries. The study situates Nigerian Twitterature within activism and socio-political engagement, noting that new technical media transform cognition and narration. It argues for inclusive canonicity aligned with digital poetics and platform-specific text configurations that project Nigerian socio-cultural realities, and uses Twitterature/Xerature interchangeably.

Section 2 traces Twitterature’s emergence via collaborative groups and projects in Europe and North America, including Booktwo, Twittories (Ireland), The Story So Far (UK), and Rayuela (Spain), active since 2006 under ‘literature 2.0’. Mélusine (@TwittLitt) popularised nano-poetry in 2007; Dene Grigar’s 24-Hr Micro-Elit Project (2008) collected 85 micro-stories. Aciman and Rensin’s 2009 book ‘Twitterature’ cemented the term, prompting academic discourse and contests; by 2011, Twitterature was heralded as ‘Literature of the Year’. Subsequent years saw Twitterbots and procedural robotic creativity. Nigerian Twitterature’s roots are linked to Teju Cole’s 2014 works (e.g., Bring Back Our Girls?, Small Fates), intertwining literary experimentation with global activism (#BringBackOurGirls). Nigerian Twitterateurs use multiple accounts for character dialogue (@ mentions) and hashtags for narrative threading. Poetry House Nigeria (2019) and ‘Poetry for Nigeria, by Nigerians’ (2020) fostered collaborative tweet-poetry, leveraging multimedia to extend expression under character constraints, with examples like Hafsah S. Dauda’s ‘Las, Las Nigeria Is Home’ (2020) and Abdulfatai Suleiman’s #EndSARS BOT.

The paper proposes reading methodologies tailored to Nigerian Twitterature’s multimodality and platform affordances: linear/threaded reading; close reading; serendipitous/hypertextual reading; revision and re-visitation reading; and visual-performative reading, while excluding metonymical reading (specific to generative, stochastic Twitterbot outputs). It details platform features (threads, hashtags, comments, likes, embedded photos/videos/links, shares, Google Translate, emojis, character constraints) that shape reading. An experimental sustained reading of Hafsah S. Dauda’s 2020 tweet-videopoem ‘Las, las Nigeria is Home’ examines stanzaic structure (alternating quatrains/tercets), visual symbolism (national icons, cultural imagery, visual noise/illegibility techniques), Naijá youth language (‘Las, las’), and the dialogic personification of Nigeria, integrating textual, vocal, and visual analysis to show how multimodality orchestrates meaning. The study also notes platform evolution (policy/monetisation changes, emergence of Threads) and remuneration for creators on X.

• Nigerian Twitterature (Xerature) is a distinct, multimodal nano-literary practice shaped by X/Twitter’s constraints and affordances (280 characters; threads; hashtags; embedded media; emojis; hyperlinks) and rooted in activism and socio-political engagement.
• It is polymorphic (fiction, poetry, plays, riddles, proverbs) and defined by digital materiality: accessibility, visibility, interactivity, and algorithmic culture.
• Inclusive canonicity should be based on conformity to digital poetics and platform-specific configurations while projecting Nigerian socio-cultural realities.
• Proposed reading methodologies (linear/threaded, close, serendipitous, revision/re-visitation, visual-performative) effectively engage Nigerian Twitterature; metonymical reading is reserved for generative bot literature.
• Case study of Hafsah S. Dauda’s ‘Las, las Nigeria is Home’ demonstrates how multimodal orchestration (text, voice, visual symbols, visual noise) conveys a trajectory from frustration to hope and collective responsibility, leveraging youth language (‘Las, las’) to connect with in-group audiences.
• Attention metrics: average attention span fell from 12 to 8 seconds (2000–2015), underpinning nano-linguistic brevity.
• Platform context: X reports ~250 million daily active users; usage declined ~30% in 2024, yet remains central to digital literary creativity; remuneration mechanisms for creators have emerged.

Findings address the research questions by defining Nigerian Twitterature’s boundaries, articulating its multimodal essence, and proposing an inclusive canon aligned with digital poetics and platform constraints. The reading framework demonstrates how scholars and readers can systematically engage with twittexts, accommodating the aesthetics of serendipity and controlled interaction inherent to electronic literature. The Hafsah Dauda case exemplifies Nigerian Twitterature’s capacity to blend socio-political critique with performative, visual, and vocal dimensions, transitioning from disenchantment to collective optimism. The discussion situates Twitterature within broader shifts in cognition and reading practices due to new media, and considers platform changes (ownership, policies, monetisation) and creator remuneration, acknowledging both opportunities and challenges for canonicity and sustained scholarly engagement.

The study defines and critiques Nigerian Twitterature/Xerature, argues for its canonicity within inclusive digital poetics, and proposes practical reading methodologies (close and distant/serendipitous approaches) validated through an experimental sustained reading of Hafsah S. Dauda’s 2020 tweet-videopoem. It positions Nigerian Twitterature as an evolving practice that amplifies underrepresented voices and engages global audiences via activism-inflected multimodality. Looking ahead, the rise of generative AI and LLMs poses challenges and opportunities: future research should examine human–AI collaboration in Twitterature, impacts on authorship and creativity, methodological adaptations for bot-generated texts, and longitudinal analyses of platform dynamics affecting literary production, circulation, and canon formation.