2.7M Updated Facebook Pic for Gay Marriage

Human Rights Campaign offers photos online
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 30, 2013 4:48 PM CDT
Millions Update Facebook Pic for Gay Marriage
An image available on the Human Rights Campaign's Facebook page.   (Human Rights Campaign)

Seen anyone replace their Facebook profile picture with a red equal sign lately? They're among the 2.7 million or so users supporting same-sex marriage with images provided by the Human Rights Campaign, reports CNN. The group started offering the photos Monday—as the issue headed for the Supreme Court—and soon Facebook's top 10 trending terms were all related to same-sex marriage. "You always hope that these things will capture the imagination of those that see it," says an exec at HRC, who adds that you can't predict "how individuals with a bigger reach than your own are going to make your reach exponential in nature." Looking behind the numbers, Facebook found that:

  • Most of those who changed their profile pictures are around 30 years old.
  • Gender played no big role: 2.1% of self-reported males swapped out their profile pic, compared to 2.3% of self-reported females.
  • The new pics are popular nationwide, but most of the top 25 counties with the highest support also have college towns—like home counties for the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, and Duke University. Major cities fared well too.

The Family Research Council made its own image—of a man and woman holding hands—but so far its Facebook campaign hasn't fared nearly as well. (More same-sex marriage stories.)

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