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

•Over half (55%) of the social media messages' purpose was to inform. Categories within this function include informing stakeholders about LGTBTI refugee/asylum seeker's human rights, affective personal stories, progress and pride, government and legislation, or about a report/study that had been released. Both ORAM and IGLHRC use social media to disseminate information about human rights and legislation in other countries more than any function.•Contrary to Lovejoy and Saxton (2012) who found messages' sole purpose was to inform and had no secondary agenda, the current research found affective response as an ancillary intention. Both NGOs examined in the current study utilized personal stories of LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers to invoke feelings of empathy and sympathy.•The community function was manifested in about a third (32%) of the social media messages. This function included the categories of congratulations/recognition, events, response to messages, and memes of encouragement.•An action function was utilized in 12.5% of the tweets, encouraging individuals to partake in actions such as voting, donating, volunteering, applying for jobs, supporting or following another NGO, filling out a survey/petition, or completing a grant/funding/scholarship application.•The NGOs' messages focused more (13.6%) on North America, specifically the United States. The target audience for the messages was U.S. citizens who could affect legislation in by voting, lobbying or protesting and/or could potentially donate money by attending events thrown by the NGO.•The current study found that the NGOs linked to more LGBTI-specific targeted websites, entities, and advocacy groups, thus creating a form of “queer social capital” that helps forge bonds of reciprocity and trust within the LGBTI community and fosters feelings of bonding, communal support, and belonging.•The two NGOs underutilize video/photos and corresponding video/photo social media platforms compared to other mainstream NGOs, nonprofits are not using social media to its full capability.•The current study not only furthers organizational communication theory, but also provides pragmatic examples that can be implemented in real-world situations.

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.