New research from Western Sydney University shows how young people in the LGBTQIA+ community used social media to create communities online over the course of the pandemic.
One of the core findings of the report is that, despite LGBTQIA+ youths’ ability to create ‘happy spaces’ via social media, they still need greater support from social media platforms.
The qualitative study – called the ‘Social Media Insights from Sexuality and Gender Diverse Young People During COVID-19′ report – is one of the largest of its kind in Australia, and involved 10 focus groups and 21 interviews with 65 LGBTQIA+ young people from Australia.
57 per cent of the sample group were assigned a different gender at birth.
LGBTQIA+ people have long used social media sites to craft important communities for themselves, which are particularly essential for individuals who lack offline relationships with other queer people. Platforms like Tumblr and Twitter have been hubs for queer discussion since their foundation, and more recently, TikTok has seen Gen Z LGBTQ+ people engage in an online community. Indeed, there is a very prominent section of the platform known just as ‘gay TikTok’.
One of the most interesting elements of the study is the way it complicates the narrative that LGBTQIA+ youth were inherently worse off throughout the COVID-19 pandemic because they may have had to return to trans/bi/homophobic households.
The study said, “whilst homes were, at times, difficult spaces, young people used this time to explore their identities, gain a deeper and more complex understanding of gender and sexuality, and continue to engage with queer communities.”
“Social media was and remains a critical component of LGBTQIA+ young people’s lives.”
Dr Benjamin Hanckel, the study’s lead author, said, “the findings show many young people curated ‘happy’ spaces for themselves online by connecting with people from across the broader LGBTQIA+ community.”
However, despite these happy spaces, there were still a number of issues surrounding LGBTQIA+ people online. Notably, study respondents mentioned a lack of diversity in LGBTQIA+ content itself, as well as concerns about the removal of LGBTQIA+ content and hate speech directed at sexuality and gender diverse folk.
Dr Shiva Chandra, co-author of the study, said, “some young people reported difficulties finding others online with similar identities to themselves – this included race, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, as well as more generally a lack of diverse LGBTQIA+ representation.”
“We believe more can be done to improve the experiences of LGBTQIA+ youths online and to support their wellbeing, and steps should be taken in consultation with the broader LGBTQIA+ community and support organisations.”
The report makes a number of suggestions for how the experience of queer youth online can be improved, including clear policies to prevent queer content from being banned/deleted/demonetised without justification, promoting LGBTQIA+ content, and supporting content creators so that they are protected from trans/bi/homophobia.
The removal of queer content was of particular concern, with respondents referencing the removal of content by Black, disabled and LGBTQ+ TikTokers by the platform last year.
One respondent said, “…I know on TikTok there’s a lot of – when uh, transgender males or non-binary folk have the top surgery their videos will get taken down in a heartbeat and it’s not sexualised at all. But as soon as it’s a cis-gender male and he’s got the shirt off and he’s probably like re-enacting spanking or something really sexual like that, that stays up and that gets millions of views.”
“So it’s, it’s the like, [a] double-standard probably because it’s almost like TikTok’s also identifying them as a separate type of male, not the all-collective type.”
Another said, “it’s not just TikTok that does it […] like there was a huge problem for a while, I know with trans-YouTubers, with their content not being able to be seen by a lot of people, and videos being taken down because they were too sexual or like they were crude or something, when in actuality like you know there’s hardly even swearing in the videos.”
“It’s just cos like, ‘oh, it’s not ‘advertiser-friendly’.”
The study’s authors also emphasised the importance of clearer moderation policies by platforms to clarify what is and isn’t acceptable, and increasing investment into responses to hate speech and censorship.
Josh Machin, Head of Policy at Facebook Australia – who funded the study through a foundational gift – said, “this research demonstrates the power of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to empower the LGBTQIA+ community in times of hardship, and to create safe online spaces for connection and queer expression.”
“As proud allies to the LGBTQIA+ community, Facebook takes this report’s recommendations seriously.”
In its conclusions, the study ultimately found that COVID-19 allowed queerness “to flourish”. While that is a wonderful thing, the onus must now be on social media platforms to ensure they are supporting those LGBTQIA+ youth as they create safe spaces online.
The ABC’s content continues to deliver bringing the network a strong 20 per cent of the share – We love to see homegrown content soaring! Seven News hit 1,007,000 viewers while Nine News earned 888,000 viewers. Nine’s A Current Affair scored 653,000 viewers – Grimshaw as always brings in big numbers. As per OzTAM’s metro […]
The latest entry in EA and Maxis’ life simulation series, The Sims 4, has released a new update which allows players to customise their character’s pronouns. This new feature is available only in the English version of the game for the time being, with the developers saying that they will soon release it for other […]
Rupert Murdoch’s brainchild Sky News is being blasted online after airing a “Resistance Starts Now!” mantra in reaction to the Labor party’s election win. It kicked off on Paul Murray Live, Murray himself started his usual show by calling it, ‘the first meeting of the resistance.’ Which is very dramatic but okay. The slogan for […]
Former Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has admitted that she has pulled a ‘Karl Stefanovic’ and has been drunk while on air. The former morning show golden girl interviewed Karl Stefanovic on her podcast, Something To Talk About With Samatha Armytage. It was a pretty interesting chat, considering Stefanovic and Armytage used to be breakfast show […]
A new public awareness campaign has launched which aims to educate sexually active young people around new consent laws. Called “Make no doubt” the ads are for the NSW Government and have been launched ahead of a major change to sexual consent laws set to come into effect in NSW from June the 1st. The […]
Alexa continues to learn and lap up Australian culture, with Amazon today announcing the addition of new ‘Strayan slang to her vocabulary. From well-worn phrases like “Dog’s Eye” to emerging social-media slang like “Bachelor’s Handbag”, Alexa’s latest lessons are part of her ongoing Aussie education and make it even easier for her to understand her […]
During a meeting held by all shareholders of social media company Twitter, there were a lot of questions asked regarding the direction they would be taking and when the deal with Tesla owner Elon Musk would be finalised, but no real answers were given. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal simply said that they were “…working through […]
Less than half the Australian population (44 percent) are familiar with the metaverse, while only 36 percent express positive feelings about engaging with extended reality in daily life, a new global survey conducted by Ipsos for the World Economic Forum finds. Globally, about half of adults across 29 countries say they are familiar with the […]
A new US study of 100 major brands with annual marketing budgets in excess of $US50 million ($A70 million) has found a worrying mismatch between creative and media spends. Creative management platform Smartly.io released the survey called Releasing the Power of Digital Creative. You can read the study HERE. While 89 per cent of the […]
Asian marketing communications agency Bastion Asia has announced a strategic partnership with one of Shanghai’s leading PR agencies, Adventi, to drive greater digital and marketing innovation for Australian brands seeking to engage with Chinese audiences. Adventi, a marketing and communications agency specialising in luxury brands, is known for bringing some of Europe’s biggest luxury brands […]
Engine Creative has reinvented the missing person poster – re-thinking the standard design and introducing a high-impact live portrait – for UK charity Missing People to coincide with International Missing Children’s Day. The striking, high-tech digital posters show a ‘live’ image of the missing person appearing to move their eyes, smile and make facial expressions. […]
Amplify, the global creative agency specialising in experience and culture, has added Canva, PlayStation and Levi’s to its client roster and announced a string of senior promotions in a phase of strong business growth. The agency will provide brand experience services to the three global brands. Coinciding with significant new business momentum, Amplify has boosted […]
Spark Foundry has announced two more key promotions, aimed at further strengthening its investment and digital capabilities. Effective immediately, Sue-Ellen Osborn (left in main photo) moves from her position as group activation director, to the elevated new role of Sydney head of investment. Meanwhile Greg Cattelain (right), formerly national head of programmatic, steps into the […]
LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, has today launched the latest iteration of its #ConversationsForChange initiative with a new content series in partnership with Indigenous-led creative consultancy, Campfire X. The three-part series, titled ‘Change Starts With’, aims to highlight the often subtle, everyday moments that can impact Indigenous Australians in the workplace. The campaign encourages […]
Microsoft’s Build conference for developers that took place yesterday showcased several important additions to the US tech giant’s PC software that will soon be released to the public. During the presentation, which was live-streamed for audiences all around the world, the company revealed their plans for various programs such as Teams. Microsoft will soon be […]
Australia’s ad watchdog Ad Standards has released its annual Review Of Operations that provides an insight into advertising complaint statistics and key areas of work in 2021. Some 4675 advertising complaints were lodged last year, 33 per cent more than in 2020. The Ad Standards Community Panel considered a total of 315 cases and upheld […]
Cision, a communications platform helping public relations and marketing professionals around the world understand, influence and amplify their stories, released its annual State of the Media report with responses from more than 3800 journalists from 17 global markets to understand challenges faced in a marketplace that is rapidly evolving, and how public relations can support […]
Alan Manly (main photo), OAM, is the CEO of Universal Business School Sydney (UBSS) and author of The Unlikely Entrepreneur. In this guest post, Manly offers tips from turning that side hustle into entrepreneurial greatness… Over the past few years, the success of leading businesses and entrepreneurs has been thrust into the spotlight like we […]
Collective Campus, Australian innovation consultancy and start-up accelerator, is spinning off Metarise – a web3 venture fund and tokenized start-up accelerator focused on bringing web3 projects to life across Asia-Pacific. Having run numerous web2 accelerators in partnership with brands such as Microsoft, Village Roadshow, Charter Hall, and Mills Oakley, Metarise’s ANZ Launchpad will be run […]
The popular video sharing platform TikTok is showing agencies its unique potential as a place to share their products with its latest #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt campaign, which is becoming increasingly appealing with audiences and users. During the pandemic, TikTok became one of the breakout social media outlets, rapidly rising in account numbers as people all across the […]