You can also be as anonymous as you want or as open as you’d like with your gender, preferred pronouns and status. A lot of this stems from the fact that users have license to be incredibly specific about their wants and desires, which apparently for some people means being specifically terrible.Īwful behaviour aside, there are a lot of pros to Grindr. If you’re using the free version, be willing to suppress your rage at the incessant ads.Īs is also the case with large gatherings of people, there’s a lot of bigotry and generally unacceptable behaviour on Grindr. All you need to do to get started is sign up, set your preferences and scroll through guys close by. That being said, if you’re looking for a brief encounter, Grindr will do the job, as it’s more of a free-for-all than some other apps with little restriction on who you can talk to. As is the case anywhere a lot of people gather, there’s something on Grindr for everyone – from one night stands and fuckbuddies to long term relationships. An app you can bring home to mom.The general consensus is that Grindr is only for hookups, but this isn’t necessarily true. We all need one of those, don't we? Otherwise, we'd all still be eating at Outback. What is surely cool, however, about this initiative is that it promises to be your "well-connected, in-the-know, VIP gay friend." They do adore predictability.Īfter all this information, you're probably feeling a need for hotness coming on. So don't be surprised that they claim this is "the only app that combines social networking, event ticketing, attendee visibility, location-based services, and hot-spot locating with predictability and in real time." Please remember, we're talking Harvard people here. Sometimes, though, we're at a loss as to where to find it.
I suspect that you and I (and the hamsters pushing the algorithmic wheel at Distinc.tt) already have our own idea of hotness.
The art here is that Distinc.tt claims it has a proprietary algorithm that ranks places and events for "hotness." Taste and art are often intertwined like long-lost lovers, one of whom has flown in from the Andes and the other from Boise. In this, he has some very famous and tasteful investors - old PayPal pals Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois, to name but two. He wants "the good-taste part of the gay stereotype to gain traction with advertisers and cross the mainstream divide." Indeed, Distinc.tt describes itself as "clean, social, and fun."ĬEO Michael Belkin told me that this is very different from, say, Grindr: "If you go on Grindr, people change their headline sometimes to 'Visiting tonight, does anyone know the best place to go out?'"īelkin says he's launching Distinc.tt because he became "disgusted by the tasteless torsos and imagery on gay social sites and apps." "Mom, look! Here's how I found out where the very crunchiest baguettes are at!" In the iTunes store, Distinc.tt has a charming way of describing itself: "Finally, an LGBT app that you can bring home to Mom!" Just as Google tells you there are "right" ads and "wrong" ones, so here you can have access to the "right" events, rather than quiz night at your local Uzbek potato vodka bar. Here's an extract: "With an emphasis on good taste, Distinc.tt is sleekly designed to easily lead users to the right event, restaurant, party, or vacation spot for the moment or upcoming calendar, where their friends are or plan to go soon." How do I know this? Well, I can read press releases. Implicit in this rococo marketing speak is the notion that gay people know where it's at before, you know, other sorts of people do. Instead, and I'm quoting the company now, Distinc.tt "uses real-time collective knowledge to connect trendsetting crowds and travelers to the places and people that best reflect their distinct interests." This, they claim, is "the only gay social app approved by the iTunes store for 12-year-olds and older."īefore you mount your high, sweaty horse and exert a moral gallop over the idea, might I say that this app doesn't have sex at its core?
#Gay dating app for teens full#
Some very clever Harvard types (are there any other kind?) believe that, when it comes to apps, the gay community hasn't offered the full bloom of its most tasteful side. The fine urban studies theorist Richard Florida has offered that cities thrive when they attract a dynamic gay population. Do you feel that the gay community is all too often symbolized by shiny torsos with a body fat percentage below 3?ĭo you sense that when you think of gay apps, the first that comes to mind is Grindr?īut what about gay taste? What about the gay sense of style?