[LINK] "Arguing for the Cultural Importance of Grindr"

[rfmcdonald]

Grindr, the "geosocial networking application geared towards gay, bisexual, and bi-curious men", is the subject of a new book by Toronto's Jaime Woo, Meet Grindr: How One App Changed The Way We Connect. In an interview at Torontoist with Chris Dart, Woo makes the case that the app is important as a way to let people connect spontaneously.

“The only thing I can think of [that’s had a similar impact] is Google Maps,” he says. “You don’t see tourists pulling out these giant maps anymore, they’re getting turn-by-turn directions…It gives them a sense of control of their environment, and I think in a way, Grindr pulls in some of the same things…It modernized cruising for the smartphone age.”

Woo says the sexual nature of Grindr prevents it from getting the respect it deserves.

“Culturally, we don’t find things that deal with sex so frankly to be relevant,” he says. “It came out two weeks after Foursquare. It was monetized before Foursquare. I think it has a clearer vision of what it’s trying to be than Foursquare. But yet Foursquare takes this kind of place in locative services that Grindr doesn’t have. I thought it was important to give this app its due.”

A Grindr user himself, Woo says that writing the book taught him a lot about how the app is used. Early in his Grindr career, he was focused on establishing compatibility prior to meeting people. According to Grindr founder Joel Simkhai, whom Woo interviewed, that’s the incorrect approach. On Grindr, you meet first and figure out compatibility later.

“[Simkhai] said that it’s about connecting with someone quickly, meeting them as soon as you can, and leaving that assessment of compatibility and chemistry to the in-person meeting,” Woo says. “That opened things up for me a lot, because you scrutinize people in a different way.”

The argument makes sense to me, though I'm not a Grindr user myself. I'll be looking for the book.