Facebook Gay Profiles - In celebration of the court ruling on gay marriage, social media platform Facebook was filled with rainbow-colored profile pictures over the weekend, Chicago Tribune revealed.
So, why did these rainbow-colored Facebook gay profiles invade the social media site? According to Time magazine, the colorful filter was a handiwork of two Facebook interns, which over 26 million users took advantage of to celebrate gay pride weekend. Since it became internally popular, the company said in a statement Monday that they asked them to refine the filter for public use.
Following the historic moment of America's Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage on Friday, Facebook released a tool that encouraged netizens to express solidarity through a rainbow-colored profile image. However, Tech 2 discovered that the social media Web site has also been keeping track of who's using the tool.
Since Facebook has conducted studies on profile pic memes in the past, it is the first time that the microblogging site created a tool for a sole purpose of showing political support through a profile image. So, The Atlantic recently asked if all those Facebook gay profiles were just another experiment.
A Facebook representative did not deny that the company was tracking its users who supported gay marriage and adding that to the database of personal information the company has on its billion users. However, the company clarified that the Facebook gay profiles tool was not an experiment.
"This was not an experiment or test, but rather something that enables people to show their support of the LGBTQ community on Facebook," a company spokesperson wrote. "We aren't going to use this as a way to target ads and the point of this tool is not to get information about people," the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, the reaction on the Facebook gay profiles was nothing short of viral. With over 26 million people across the globe who changed their profile pics into visible statements of LGBT pride and support, the rainbow-colored images received more than half a billion likes and comments.
And the momentum shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, celebrities including Elizabeth Banks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Andy Cohen, Anne Hathaway, E.L. James, Arianna Huffington and Arnold Schwarzenegger have jumped on board with the trend.
Even though it is a great way to join in the celebration of a historic event through rainbow-colored Facebook gay profiles, just do not forget that Facebook is watching.
