Queer Voices in the Digital Barricades: Exploring Social Media Use in Information Resistance

This paper interrogates how queer people use the Facebook group Queer Exchange to build community and meet information needs. Research indicates that queer people face social exclusion in mainstream society, which leads to health injustices. Social media can then become a space to build inclusion, necessitating the study of queer virtual space. The study consists of 12 semi-structured interviews with queer adults living in rural communities in Western Massachusetts. The themes identified include community-sourced information, community building by identity, and reproducing offline oppressions. The paper uses de Certeau’s theory of tactics and Chatman’s small world theory to frame the research. The study concludes that Queer Exchange plays an essential role in the digital information worlds of rural queer people.