Abel, Susan 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4703-8415
(2017)
Autism groups on Facebook: Who joins them and why?
Honours thesis,
University of Southern Queensland.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
With a rapidly growing global population of just over two billion users the online social network Facebook (www.facebook.com) has changed the way many people engage with each other. Whilst the autism community—autistic people, their families and carers, and their broader support network—are likely to be represented in this population there is limited research about how this community uses Facebook to connect and communicate. As an initial step, this exploratory study aimed to characterise the purpose of Facebook groups related to autism and their target membership. The terms autism, Asperger, ASD, Aspie, and wrong planet were used to search for Facebook groups. Using a content analysis, the group name, description, privacy status and member count of 500 autism groups on Facebook were examined. The analysis was restricted to groups that were related to autism and operated in English. The groups had a combined membership of 905,655 users and were created for support (302, 60.4%), social companionship (82, 16.4%), advocacy (79, 15.8%), treatments (28, 5.6%), fundraising (5, 1.1%) and sales (4, 0.8%). Most of the groups had a target membership of parents and families (287/500, 57.4%), autistic people (117/500, 23.4%), and women (51/500, 10.2%). Many groups specified group etiquette (182/500, 36.4%), or the geographic location of members (214/500, 42.8%). Administrator approval for membership was required in 12.9% of groups (80/500). Implications of these findings, as well as suggestions for extending the research examining the autism community and Facebook are discussed.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Tanya Machin |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Aug 2025 01:11 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Aug 2025 01:11 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | autism, ASD, social networking, social support, Facebook |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52095 |
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