The unique status of Scots means that generations of Scottish children have been brought up to use formal English in school and public life, even though it might not be their first language, or the one spoken at home. The result is a disconnect between spoken and written language, and a diminished record of written Scots as it is spoken informally, rather than in literature or poetry. For many young Scots, social media might be a new and unique opportunity to write in the same way as they speak.

“It’s the first time ever where there’s been an informal public-facing writing platform. So it’s not for education, or a letter to your doctor,” points out Dr. E Jamieson, who specialises in Scots syntax at the University of Glasgow. ​“There’s something important about having the freedom and space to be able to use your native variety and spoken language in a written form without anyone correcting you.”

This was also part of the appeal for 25-year-old Glaswegian @Butsay, who boasts 20.9k followers and regularly finds himself going viral as part of Scottish Twitter.

“It’s how I talk in real life and Twitter is a pretty casual site, so I guess that’s how it came about so naturally for most people,” he says. ​“It gives it more of a personal feel, as if other Scottish folk can read it and relate, or hear the accent, which usually makes it funnier. Plus, the overall brief, conversational tone just adds more emphasis. It’s as if you’re just talking loads of shite with your pals.”

As with other social media, the role Twitter can play in constructing and communicating identity might also be central to Scottish Twitter, particularly for a country with a strong sense of collective culture but a complex and somewhat unique position as a nation within a nation – and one still grappling with existential questions about its own place and identity.

“Twitter’s all about identity and building a persona, a public face,” points out Dr. Sadie Ryan, an English Language and Linguistics academic at the University of Glasgow and presenter of the Accentricity podcast. ​“When we’re writing on Twitter we’re thinking quite a lot about how we present ourselves and how people see us. People want to be able to say: this is who I am and where I am, and this is my identity”.

Her colleague Dr. Jamieson agrees, pointing out that the majority of viral Scottish tweets tend to use Scots from the Central Belt (encompassing the cities of Glasgow, Stirling, and Edinburgh and their surrounding areas). ​“You can look for features in tweets and pinpoint where they’re from, so we know that people tend to use their own local varieties. There’s definitely an identity aspect to that.”