Newsweek

Interesting article in Newsweek about how Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites are making it more and more difficult to stay in the closet. Here is a particularly good segment from it, followed by a link to the whole thing:

That’s not to say staying in the closet on Facebook can’t be done. It’s possible, as long as you’re willing to work it like a full-time job. Keeping an eagle eye on tagged photos, pushing Facebook’s customizable privacy options to their capacity, swooping in to delete unapproved comments and wall posts, refraining from posting the new Beyoncé video even though it’s so fabulous—all in a day’s work. But whereas in the recent past, being in the closet wasn’t that much work once you were out of your parents’ house, now it requires real effort. Closeted people can’t just watch their own behavior anymore: they have to monitor and somehow orchestrate the behavior of others, 24 hours a day, in real time.

The Digital Closet, Newsweek, June 2, 2010

Does your “gaydar” work on Facebook? Have you been able to sense someone is gay by a combination of factors in his or her profile? What were those factors?

Do you know anyone who has been outed on Facebook? Twitter? Others? Share your stories in the comments section below.

Facebook has come up before on this website. Click the link to read Allyson Burk’s article about homophobia on Facebook.

Tags: closet, coming out, facebook