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Did you know? Google+ has the following gender options: “male,” “female” and “other.”
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Tumblr launches new tag system, #LGBTQ featured
Today, Tumblr expanded their tag system, creating a new way to discover content. Among the listed 25 “popular tags” is #LGBTQ.
The system highlights Tumblr’s popular tags and allows users to browse content among that tag. The tags are switched out periodically based popularity, and some high-traffic tags become trending tags—for example, ”Egypt” and “Libya.”
What sets this apart from systems like Twitter’s Trending Topics is that the content listed under these tags are chosen by selected “editors.” These editors are users who are chosen by a semi-automated process. According to the FAQ, Tumblr’s bot identifies users who post popular content about a topic. Users from this list are then selected to be editors. Every 1-4 weeks, editors are switched out.
The new tag system is an innovative way to discover content and crowdsource the task of featuring content, and incentivize that process.
Tumblr explains that this new feature fixes the limitation of the Tumblr Directory:
“It’s hard to organize Tumblr blogs by topic. A single one of your blogs may include your personal updates, your art, your opinions, and a YouTube video of a cat speaking Japanese, all in a single day. This has been a real limitation of the current Tumblr Directory. So, for the last few weeks we’ve been experimenting with some brand new tools for exploring Tumblr.”
Currently, editors of the #LGBTQ tag are imaylikemychardonnay, kristinnoeline, hunsonisgroovy and dannielle. Top contributors (users who have been featured the most by editors) are rising, franfine, everyoneisgay, sincerelyconcerned and fuckyeahlgbt.
Facebook adds new relationship statuses: civil unions, domestic partnerships
Today, Facebook added the two options to the “relationship status” section of profiles. Users are now able to specify that they are in a civil union or domestic partnership.
According to Mashable, the update is effective immediately for U.S. residents, and will be rolled out to other countries soon. These options will not appear in countries where same-sex marriage is already legal.
In an email to Mashable, a Facebook representative stated:
“This has been a highly requested feature from users. We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook.”
Current relationship statuses include single, in a relationship, engaged, married, it’s complicated, in an open relationship, widowed, seperated, and divorced.
Pope visits Spain, greeted by gay kissing flash mob
The Pope visited Barcelona, Spain on Sunday, and was greeted by gay kissing flash mob. Participants were protesting the Pope’s condemnation of gay marriage laws in Spain.
The flash mob, which was organized on Facebook, attracted around 200 participants, according to the New York Times.
“Many gay Spaniards don’t see why they should pay for the Pope’s visits, only to have their way of life criticized”
During the Pope’s homily on Sunday, he defended traditional families and denounced Spanish laws allowing gay marriage.
The protest gained more media attention last week, when Facebook shut down the event’s page, but was later reinstated. A Facebook official stated that the event was created by a fake account, which violates Facebook’s policies.
Gay marriage has been legal in Spain since 2005. A 2007 Pew Research study showed that 82% of Spain supported homosexuality and 9% did not (9% were unsure).
Gay people ‘more likely to join Facebook and Twitter’
Gay people are significantly more likely to be members of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, research indicates.
Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of gay men and lesbians have a profile on Facebook, as against 65 per cent of heterosexuals, reports The Telegraph.
Homosexuals are almost twice as likely as straight people to have an account on Twitter, with 29 per cent claiming to use the micro-blogging website. The figure for straight people is just 15 per cent.
MySpace and Linkedin, the business contacts website, also have a disproportionate number of gay members, the research indicates.
Their survey of 2,400 Americans also found that gays are more likely to read blogs than their straight counterparts – 54 per cent compared to 40 per cent.
Day of Silence on Twitter: Equalitopia’s Photo Project
Equalitopia is running this campaign to promote awareness on Twitter and to allow participants to creatively express their support.
The Day of Silence is the GLSEN’s annual day of action to create awareness of the bullying and harassment that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students go through. Supporters take a vow of silence to protest and raise awareness about these issues.
Add Your Photo to the Project »
Equalitopia and this project are not affiliated with GLSEN.
Miley Cyrus deleted her Twitter account after abuse for tweeting that she supports gay marriage
Jam Showbiz reports that Miley Cyrus was bombarded with sickening hate mail after pledging her support for gay marriage last year.
She tells Parade magazine, “That’s the reason I deleted my Twitter account because I said on there that I believed in gay marriage because everyone should have the right to love each other, and I got such hate mail about my being a bad person.”
FB feed comment win.
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Vodafone Suspends Employee After Obscene Homophobic Tweet
With 8,824 followers, Vodafone UK’s Twitter account tweeted “VodafoneUK is fed up of dirty homo’s and is going after beaver.” After hundreds of people retweeted and replied to the tweet, Vodafone began apologizing to users individually, and then tweeted a public apology saying that the individual who had posted the tweet had been suspended.
