More and more people are coming out on Facebook
Timed to coincide with Spirit Day, Facebook's Research and Data Science division has published a report outlining how increasing numbers of US users that identify as lesbian, gay, bi or transexual have come out on the social network this year. "Not only has the total number of Americans who have come out on Facebook risen dramatically, but so has the number coming out each day." Given the sheer heft of 1 Hacker Way's user population, the findings offer a huge data sample to delve into. The Facebook team noted a particular spike in the number of users that came out follow the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision in late June. The number of people coming out per day on Facebook is now on track to be three times what it was in 2014. (The researchers defined coming out as: "updating one's profile to express a same-gender attraction or specifying a custom gender.") While many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender users are coming out online, the company faces a continued battle to repair its image with many in the LGBT community following its "real name" policy.
The Facebook analysis also looked at support for LGBT groups, whose memberships saw a spike in growth following the Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage. Numbers have increased 25% in the last year. Currently, more than six million Americans have come out on Facebook. The past year alone added 800,000 to this total.
Image credit: Facebook (Lisbon)
