The purpose of this study was to explore the use of social media within the context of heterosexual Black teen girls’ romantic partner selection processes. To better understand Black teen girls’ experiences, five focus groups (N = 27; aged 14–18 years) were conducted over Zoom. An inductive thematic analysis revealed four major themes: (1) the use of different platforms to gather different types of information, (2) the rules of social media scouting, (3) detecting partner qualities through social media, and (4) exploring Black teen girls’ experience with social media and dating. Participants in our study primarily used Instagram to understand a potential partner’s true self, while Twitter was used to assess a potential partner’s political leanings. Our participants shared numerous “rules” related to the partner-scouting process. Black teen girls in our study explained that photos index a potential partner’s style and hygiene, while memes were used to gauge sense of humor compatibility. More specific to Black teen girls, across all focus groups, participants shared their experiences of racism and bias, such as being associated with Black stereotypes, cultural invalidation, and being accused of “acting White.” Although teen girls of various racial and ethnic groups may use social media to vet romantic partners, findings reveal that Black teen girls navigate social media in a unique way, including being highly attuned to signs of bias. Our findings suggest that in the first few months of COVID-19 social distancing had little impact on our participant’s practice of using social media to vet potential romantic partners.

本研究的目的是探索在异性恋黑人少女的浪漫伴侣选择过程中使用社交媒体。为了更好地了解黑人少女的经历，五个焦点小组（N = 27; 14-18 岁）是通过 Zoom 进行的。归纳主题分析揭示了四个主要主题：（1）使用不同平台收集不同类型的信息，（2）社交媒体侦察的规则，（3）通过社交媒体检测合作伙伴的素质，以及（4）探索黑人少女在社交媒体和约会方面的经历。我们研究的参与者主要使用 Instagram 来了解潜在合作伙伴的真实自我，而 Twitter 则用于评估潜在合作伙伴的政治倾向。我们的参与者分享了许多与合作伙伴寻找过程相关的“规则”。我们研究中的黑人少女解释说，照片反映了潜在伴侣的风格和卫生习惯，而模因则被用来衡量幽默感的兼容性。在所有焦点小组中更具体地针对黑人少女，参与者分享了他们在种族主义和偏见方面的经历，例如与黑人成见、文化无效以及被指责为“扮演白人”。尽管不同种族和民族的少女可能会使用社交媒体来审查浪漫的伴侣，但调查结果表明，黑人少女以一种独特的方式浏览社交媒体，包括高度适应偏见的迹象。我们的研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 的最初几个月，社交距离对我们的参与者使用社交媒体审查潜在恋人的做法几乎没有影响。调查结果表明，黑人少女以一种独特的方式浏览社交媒体，包括高度适应偏见的迹象。我们的研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 的最初几个月，社交距离对我们的参与者使用社交媒体审查潜在恋人的做法几乎没有影响。调查结果表明，黑人少女以一种独特的方式浏览社交媒体，包括高度适应偏见的迹象。我们的研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 的最初几个月，社交距离对我们的参与者使用社交媒体审查潜在恋人的做法几乎没有影响。