Understanding Social Media Affinity Groups Supporting Relevance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Outdoors Through a Classification System

Participants in outdoor recreation on public lands are largely well-educated, able-bodied, and White. Underserved communities (e.g. people of color, LBTQ+, and people with disabilities) remain underrepresented in outdoor recreation. Likewise, there is little media content representing diverse people and ways of engaging in outdoor recreation, which can perpetuate narratives of the outdoors as able, hetero-normative, White spaces. Recently, there has been a movement on social media of affinity groups advocating for and supporting relevance, diversity, equity, and inclusion (RDEI) in the outdoors. However, there is little research about affinity groups on social media. Using a “netnographic” approach on two social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook), this research explores the landscape of affinity groups (i.e. organizational structure, scale, and engagement style). Findings inform a classification system facilitating comparison across groups. We also reflect on how varying approaches across affinity groups help advance RDEI and share considerations for future research and practice.