The convergence of niche and mainstream social networking services in gay men's digital culture: How Generation Y uses Facebook to extend and enhance the Gaydar experience

摘要

This paper examines the roles mainstream social networking sites, such as Facebook, now play in relation to niche networking sites, like Gaydar (gaydar.net), and to gay men’s digital culture more broadly for Generation Y. Drawing on data gathered through examination of 7500 Gaydar profiles, more than 40 Facebook groups and a series of semi-structured interviews with 18-28 year old gay men in Brisbane, Australia, it shows how Facebook has become deeply enmeshed in this demographic’s experience of gay men’s digital culture. In particular, the paper demonstrates how Facebook is used in very specific ways to extend, verify, connect with, and navigate existing gay men’s social networks. Facebook’s provision of a framework through which GLBT identities can be expressed in a manner not currently possible within SNSs designed specifically for gay male users is shown to be a key impetus for these developments.