LGBTQ Visibility Measured Consistently and Persistently in US Twitter Bios from 2012 through 2023

LGBTQ visibility is an often discussed but rarely quantified concept. Here we operationalize visibility as the prevalence of active social media accounts with an LGBTQ signifier in the profile bio and measure the prevalence of such accounts consistently and persistently at daily resolution over twelve years in the United States. We found that prevalence for the signifiers lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer increased. The term ‘gay’ grew most rapidly. Accounts with LGBTQ signifiers were especially visible on days corresponding to political or violent events. The rainbow flag emoji also increased in prevalence, including a notable ratchet each June (Pride Month). This work is a case study in ipseology – i.e. the study of human identity using large datasets and computational methods. Social scientists should embrace ipseology as a new opportunity to observe how people describe their selves to a public audience.