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'Too Gay for Facebook': Presenting LGBTQ+ Identity Throughout the Personal Social Media Ecosystem

Authors:

Michael Ann DeVito,

Ashley Marie Walker,

Jeremy BirnholtzAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 2, Issue CSCW

Article No.: 44, Pages 1 - 23

https://doi.org/10.1145/3274313

Published: 01 November 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Most US social media users engage regularly with multiple platforms. For LGBTQ+ people, this means making self-presentation decisions not just on one platform, but many. These choices are made in the face of sometimes-overlapping platform environments, which can have consequentially different norms, audiences, and affordances. Moreover, many LGBTQ+ users face high stakes in online self-presentation, due to the risk of stigmatization of their LGBTQ+ identity, increasing the importance of self-presentation decisions that enable them to achieve their goals and avoid stigmatization. This combination of environmental complexity and high stakes is not adequately accounted for in existing work on self-presentation, but doing so is important to support and understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ and other potentially stigmatized users. We adopt an ecological approach to an interview and cognitive mapping study of 20 LGBTQ+ social media users. We find that participants employ the platforms, audiences, affordances, and norms within what we call their "personal social media ecosystems" to avoid stigmatization while still allowing for expression of their LGBTQ+ identity and the flexibility to adjust their presentation over time.

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Index Terms

'Too Gay for Facebook': Presenting LGBTQ+ Identity Throughout the Personal Social Media Ecosystem
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing
  2. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI
2. Social and professional topics
  1. User characteristics
    1. Sexual orientation

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 2, Issue CSCW

November 2018

4104 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3290265

Editors:
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois & Adobe
,
Andrés Monroy-Hernández
Snap Inc.
,
Airi Lampinen
Stockholm University
,
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Vienna University of Technology

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Copyright © 2018 ACM.

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Published: 01 November 2018

Published in PACMHCI Volume 2, Issue CSCW

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3701186
Kim D(2025)Remapping visibility: Layerability of gay dating apps and hybrid placemaking in Seoul, KoreaCommunication Monographs10.1080/03637751.2024.2444299(1-25)Online publication date: 16-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2024.2444299
Murphy SPeelo-Dennehy DMorrissey KMcCarthy JFoley S(2025)The opportunities and challenges of using online social platforms after pregnancy loss: A systematic review of qualitative researchComputers in Human Behavior Reports10.1016/j.chbr.2024.10054717(100547)Online publication date: Mar-2025
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100547
Amadori AReal ABrighi ARussell S(2025)An Intersectional Perspective on Cyberbullying: Victimization Experiences Among Marginalized YouthJournal of Adolescence10.1002/jad.12466Online publication date: 18-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12466
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