Create community for the LGBTQ+ community with the help of technology

“The idea is that these stories reach the community so they don’t feel alone, that they see that there are many more people like them who have gone through similar things. From the beginning, the campaigns were planned to reach through social networks, which when we started were very new and those of us who grew up with the Internet were beginning to understand the effects of cyberbullying,” Alex Orué, deputy manager of the Global program, told Expansión. , It Gets Better.

Orué relates that they first built a community on platforms like Meta, then conquered other digital spaces like Instagram, and now they are focusing their efforts on WhatsApp.

According to The Trevor Project, 42% of LGBTQ+ youth have seriously considered suicide in the past year, compared to 14% of their non-LGBTQ+ peers. A GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) study indicates that 59% of students in the community feel unsafe at school due to their sexual orientation. 34% of LGBTQ+ students reported being physically harassed due to their sexual orientation.

“That is why telling stories helps to have containment and support. We also have some special programs such as ‘Safe Hour’ where psychological support is provided in case of a crisis,” Orué said.

Although the consumption of social networks changes with each generation, the idea of ​​this organization is to continue reaching young people but also to environments where these young people participate, such as schools or through parents, who often do not know how to contain or support a loved one.

“We have been in Mexico for 10 years and that leads us to think about how much of that audience we have is our target, right? And what strategies do we need to implement to continue rediscovering more LGBT youth of the ages we focus on, which are normally 13 to 25 years old. So, well, many of these audiences that we have on Instagram, on Facebook, are audiences that have already grown up, that we may have been with in the moments when they needed us and now we need to find this young audience again, where WhatsApp could help,” said Orué.

In Mexico, social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok dominate the digital scene, with Facebook leading with more than 93% million users, according to data from Statista. However, the youngest people are in spaces like TikTok or messaging apps. And given this, organizations must think about their new communication strategies, as Orué states.