Students embody themselves within social media platforms and (re)craft their identities within social media platforms. These interfaces enable students to think critically regarding human geographic issues online and raise awareness of their positionalities in using ever-changing technology. This paper analy-ses how social media research can be developed into pedagogy, in relation to research that uses WhatsApp and Twitter as research methods to explore issues around identity within Eurovision Song Contest fandom. It argues that higher education institutions need to be continuously aware of the increasing need for digital integration into undergraduate geography teaching, fieldwork and pedagogy.

The annual televisual spectacle, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an international media event that is a nexus around which questions surrounding identity surface. This paper focuses specifically on the contest's active promotion of queer visibility, that intersects through national stage performances and its international fan base. It untangles the relationship between the contest and its problematic construction as a 'gay event' and how fans are increasingly using social media platforms to legitimise their fan and queer identities. Mainstream social media platforms, such as Twitter are an important site where issues surrounding queer visibility may be expressed and constructed. These ESC fan practices are contextualised in relation to literature surrounding male same-sex hookup apps which can inform our ideas surrounding queer code/space. It also suggests that fans self-regulate who or how they 'come out' as ESC fans which establishes an ESC closet because the ESC is prone to stigmatisation in some national contexts.

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