In the last few months I have been enjoying my new smart phone powered by the Google android software. This device, beyond versatile, has many apps that assist me in getting work done, as well as giving me an excuse for prolonged procrastination. The single biggest “time waiting” application that I have found myself on all the time is Grindr.
Grindr for those who don’t know is a dating application for gay men. The user creates a profile with the sections for blurbs and about, as well as basic stats. There is even a place on the profile to link to other social networking sights. Upon completion, your profile is shown next to others in your area using GPS locating. This is call geosocial networking. It allows for the user to connect and engage with others in their immediate area as well as the outlining regions. As you move your profile will periodically update your location showing you new guys in the area. On Grindr you can text chat with other profiles, send pictures, and maps of the area around you. The Grindr app is a free to use and when you first download it you get five days of Grindr Xtra. Xtra is the subscription the user buys if they wish to access the advanced features, mainly the ability to load up to 200 profiles and being able to quickly swipe through profiles.
This application has won several awards in January 2011, the award for "Best Mobile Dating Site" at the iDate Awards. January 2012 Grindr announced it was named the winner of Tech Crunch’s 2011 Crunchies Award for Best Location Application. It is the most popular gay dating application available.
The reason Grindr is so popular is due to the fact it provides a meeting place for people to declare themselves in a discreet way. A user is not even required to use their face. Some instead decide to use headless shots or of scenery. This is a kind of a godsend to closeted and down low gay men.
There is a saying “the gay bar is dead, the internet killed it” I would agree with that statement to a point. Back in the days of the Stonewall Inn LGBT people did not have public ways of meeting people of their particular persuasion, because it was not socially accepted. As a result they were shunned to places like the Stonewall which were run buy the mob, who had a nice arrangement with the police when they wanted to crack down on “deviancy.” Fast forward to the present where mainstream society is tolerant if not accepting of nontraditional sexuality and we still have bars where these types of people can meet. Now they are run for the people buy the people. But now, just like how certain message boards became a meeting place for reality television fans, we now come to a whole new platform where an entire community can now interact on. This is how the internet in collaboration with the free market services the needs of particular demographic.
I believe that Grindr, and applications like them, will change how the next generation dates and finds partners gay or straight. The company has already launched a sister application called Blendr for people of all sexual orientations. This is especially useful to gay people who live in small towns or have the obstacle of ascertaining if others “play on your team.” Many people already date on the internet and the number will only continue to rise with the more options technology provides.
Grindr has just celebrated its 3rd Anniversary it has spawned several lookalike apps such as Jack’d, Boy Ahoy, and Scruff. This is only one examples of the use of geosocial networking. Other app developers have been and are currently working to include geosocial networking to their product whenever possible, as often as possible. The uses for this technology are only limited by our imagination it seems. For now I will have to just learn self control and discipline when it comes to Grindr as well as other applications on my smartphone.
A perfect parody of how Grindr changes our behavior. Davy Wavy shows what if guys acted the same way in real life as they do on Grindr.
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