Hidden in Plain View: An Exploratory Study on Twitter (X)’s Alter Community

Abstract

The study is an attempt to explore the alter community, a group of predominantly gay members, who produce and consume pornographic content on Twitter (now called “X). The aim of the study is to identify the key features of the community and its members, characterize existing relations within it, and place them in the larger context of the Philippine society. To achieve this, virtual ethnography was used as a methodology. Snowball sampling was utilized to determine which users would be observed in the study. The results of the study suggest that the alter community allows its members to maintain their anonymity which emboldens them to post pornographic photos and videos of themselves and others and interact with other members without fear of discrimination. It was also found that the alter community may be characterized as diverse and hierarchical in the sense that members assume various roles and some have more influence than others. Alter members also use Filipino gay lingo but have evolved some terminologies that are unique to the community. Finally, the study indicates that alter does not operate in a vacuum; members participate in political activities and are affected by economic forces as seen in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.