Development of a Cross‐Platform Multi‐Scale Instrument for Assessing Usability and Sociability of Queer Online Communities: An Initial Step

Queer online communities across social media platforms serve as critical spaces for LGBTQ individuals to seek and share information. However, few validated tools exist to assess LGBTQ users’ experiences in these communities. As part of a dissertation study, this poster presents a cross‐platform, LGBTQ‐centered multi‐scale assessment instrument measuring five key dimensions: ease of use, usefulness, sociability, satisfaction, and continuance intention. Each scale was adapted from existing validated measures and contextualized for information seeking and sharing across popular platforms used by LGBTQ people, including Reddit, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok. Data were collected through an online survey of 92 LGBTQ university students from 44 U.S. higher education institutions. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and item‐total correlations, with results indicating acceptable to strong reliability. The preliminary findings support the instrument's potential for future use in user experience evaluation, inclusive platform design, and LGBTQ information behavior research. Confirmatory factor analysis and construct validity testing are planned for future studies with larger and more diverse samples.