Communicating global inequalities: How LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs use social media as public relations.

The plight and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees and asylum seekers from around the globe often go unheard. Currently, at least 75 countries have specific regulations persecuting LGBTIs. Without protection, these global citizens are forced to seek asylum in other countries. This paper investigates how LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs (Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration and International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) are using Facebook and Twitter to build organizational–public relationships. Research provided here builds upon previous research in organizational communication and NGOs by supporting the use of social media messages as functions of information, community and action. The current study provides a more nuanced examination of those functions and establishes an affective classification within the information function to help foster social change by LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the conventional public relations measures of cognitive learning, affective responses and resulting behaviors are manifested within these online functions as well. The current study also helps further the concept of queer social capital. The social media messages linked more to LGBTI-specific entities around the world than non-LGBTI organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]