FaceBook: 'More Australians are coming out with their Profiles than ever before’
More Australians than ever are identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex on Facebook, a new data analysis has revealed.
The LGBTI community in Australia is building momentum on the social media platform and many users are proud to express their sexuality or support, Facebook said.
The social media giant released data on Wednesday which showed by the end of 2015, the number of people coming out on its platform each day was double what it was at the start of the year.
Researchers said social media was also gaining momentum as a platform for the LGBTI community to connect and share.
In 2015, the topic of marriage equality was the sixth most-talked-about topic on Facebook globally and the 11th most-talked-about topic in Australia, the company said in a statement.
The analysis did not reveal the daily number of Australians coming out or total number of LGBTI Australians, but Facebook said "the total number of Australians who have come out on Facebook has risen substantially".
Facebook measured the number of LGBTI Australians by monitoring which of its 14 million Australian users changed the "interested in" field to reflect a same-gender interest, an interest in both genders, entering into a same-sex relationship, or used a custom gender.
The study said the rise in people selecting their sexuality indicated more people than ever were comfortable with identifying themselves as LGBTI.
Last year saw a 20 per cent increase in people "liking" pages classed as LGBTI, including pages advocating for gay marriage or gay news services.
Growth in page likes spiked during significant events such as the 2015 Mardi Gras, the Irish referendum in favour of same-sex marriage in May, and US supreme court decision legalising same-sex marriage in June.
More than a quarter of all supporters of the high-profile Australian LGBTI pages are now international, from more 200 countries, the data also revealed.
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