Building an Online Community of Care: Tumblr Use by Transgender Individuals

Scholars are starting to understand transgender people use social media to create online communities to discuss aspects of their lives. Tumblr, a social media site that allows people to share information often via tags targeted for specific groups (e.g., #ftm, #mtf, or #trans), is a virtual space commonly used by transgender people to seek or share information. We collected interview data on English-speaking transgender people's experiences to understand the connection between Tumblr and transition-related mental health posts. Tumblr was described as a safe space for many transgender people who might lack a physical community of support when dealing with their mental health while transitioning. This paper contributes a description of the ways transgender people use Tumblr to meet their mental health needs. Analyzing transgender Tumblr users' interactions and experiences while transitioning provides an opportunity to understand a population that faces high rates of mental health challenges.