As part of the social media project I am undertaking for LGBT Youth North West I conducted a survey into LGBT young people’s use of social networks. One of the questions posed was when using social networks what sort of information do you look for in relation to LGBT issues. The answers given covered a diverse range of topics including:

• Information on any and all progression in respect to [gay] rights
• Information of what groups are around and when they meet
• News
• Events including Pride events
• Advice
• The way the world reacts to the LGBT community
• Gay marriage news and updates
• Gender identity cases

Yet what I found most interesting in the answer to this question was “people like me – a community.” One of the essences of social networks is belonging to a form of online community. It highlights the power of the web to bring people together in relation to various elements of their identity, which are not bound by geography.

It highlighted to me how this LGBT Youth North West Tumblr has the potential to act not only as a resource of information for those young people based in the North West, but also as a wider online community for young gay people from much further afield – potentially increasing the scope of the content posting on the site.

Image c/o WonderingBoys licensed under Creative Commons.