Chinese gay phone app acquires 15 million users in two years
A SMARTPHONE app for gay men to meet other gay men in China has reportedly garnered 15 million users in just two years.
Known as Blued, the app was created by Ma Baoli and three million of its total users are聽from outside of China.
By comparison, Grindr has聽over聽five million users聽across聽192 countries since launching in 2009.
Before he created the app, Baoli ran Danlan.org, a website for gay people to share experiences about the pressures of being聽gay in China, where it is still viewed as a taboo subject despite decriminalisation in 1997.
He聽had to keep the site聽secret from his co-workers at the police force, but eventually, they聽found out and informed him that聽he could not run a website that provided some income through advertisements聽while serving as in the聽police force.
As a result, Ma resigned to focus on his website, which soon led to the creation of Blued.
Like Grindr and other popular apps such as Scruff, Blued allows users to discover other聽gay men聽based on聽geographical distance.
The app also enables group chats, as well as providing information on the locations that conduct HIV testing and treatments.
Blued recently caught the attention of investors in Silicon Valley, and as a result Baoli said he hoped to聽expand it and perhaps launch a dating app for lesbians.
H/T:
Sluts..lol!! It just goes to show that you can try and repress people and their sexuality, but as the saying says, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way!’
Thomas James Dunlop
That perhaps is the reason why I am single lol hahahahahahaha
Grindr is divisive? Who knew
You realise how many people there are in China right?
And a higher proportion of Chinese men are gay .
I can tell there are lot
Love that!
Three million users outside of china eh…
Jed LC