Grindr, the extremely successful, male-only hookup that is location-based for homosexual, bisexual and gay-curious males, has registered 2 million users in 2 years. Now, the creator of Grindr has launched a brand new software blendr that replicates Grindr’s template, with one key twist: it allows ladies to join up, too.
Grindr creator and CEO Joel Simkhai claims that Blendr, which established in the iPhone and Facebook on September 8, is certainly not about hookups, but friendships.
“we have looked over social network and thought that it absolutely wasn’t really social,” Simkhai stated in an meeting. “With Blendr, we are putting ‘social’ into social media. You appear at Twitter and you will share things, you can not actually fulfill brand new individuals. With Blendr there will be no better method in order to make brand new buddies.”
There is cause to be skeptical of Simkhai’s reported function, considering the fact that Grindr, which guarantees become “quick, convenient, and discreet,” is much more dating website than social networking. But Simkhai states that Blendr and Grindr have actually small in typical with regards to of aim or purpose: Blendr has “evolved from Grindr, they are cousins,” he states.
“Grindr is about one interest, and that is being homosexual,” Simkhai stated. “that is only one certain interest. [For Blendr] we have introduced a huge selection of interests . This can be a relationship software, this will be a gathering application. It is for the guy that is 60-year-old desires to play poker and would like to find dudes or girls of every generation whom would also like to try out poker around him.”
Despite Simkhai’s reported aspirations for the software, i must believe Blendr has either been put up as, or will live or perish by its success as, a hookup app that is heterosexual. In spite of how noble Simkhai’s motives, its relationship with Grindr has pigeonholed it as a “Grindr for heterosexuals,” whether Simkhai likes it or perhaps not.
More over, Blendr and Grindr actually are really, really, much the same. Aside from the identical omission associated with page ‘E’ into the software name, the consumer screen of Blendr additionally looks the same as compared to Grindr:
After selecting eight associated with the a huge selection of passions which you think most readily useful define you and that which you prefer to do, you might be shown the grid of faces above, representing people that are in your vicinity. Aesthetically, this display screen appears just like the primary display screen on Grindr; and even though Simkhai states that the sorting algorithm is just a bit different, the fact possible buddies look via photographs of these faces rather than, state, detailed by their usernames and common passions, talks volumes regarding how this application would be approached by the public that is mass. Trying out the app I found myself clicking more often on the users with striking profile pictures: Since all I could see on the grid was faces, how else would I choose for myself over the course of a week?
You are taken to a full-screen picture of that person, along with some basic information: Sex, age, relationship status and what they’re “looking for” (the options are the same as those that appear on Grindr: chat, dates, friendship, relationship — the famous “Random Play” of old Facebook profiles is not an option) when you click on a profile,. Whenever you find somebody you prefer who is near, you can easily push just a little talk bubble and talk in real-time together with them about . well, either beginning a poker game or starting various other type of “game,” we suppose.
Among the coolest top features of Blendr is Venues, just just exactly what Simkhai calls a “heat map”: It lists all nearby places, along side exactly how numerous Blendr users have actually examined into those places. Where this varies off their geo-location solutions like Foursquare is you could really talk to somebody in real-time who’s presently at that place just before 
arrive — to inquire of concerns, Simkhai hypothesizes, on how crowded it really is, or perhaps a music is a bit of good, whether there clearly was a line. “and after that you can chat the individual up when you are getting here,” Simkhai claims.
This sounds a lot more like flirting than relationship, therefore the success of Grindr will probably rely on Blendr’s capability to attract ready people in both sexes to its solution.
Whether Blendr will be taking off relies on the responses to two questions:
1. Are there any women available to you who would like to semi-randomly meet and connect with dudes simply because those guys are good-looking and situated close sufficient for them so it could be convenient to take action?
2. Will an adequate amount of these ladies install Blendr making it effective?
the solution to the question that is first we non-scientifically think, is ‘Yes’; this can be fundamentally the tradition of club and dance-floor conversation, and undoubtedly Web dating, quickly sped up and transported onto a smartphone.
the solution to the question that is second continues to be to be answered by the solitary ( or the, um, taken and non-monogamous) females worldwide.
Brian Moylan of Gawker predicted that Blendr find yourself like Chat Roulette, a ghost town filled up with hopeless males hoping that a woman will miraculously sign in at some point. Honestly, if this is Blendr’s fate — to be an application totally populated with lonely right males — well, Simkhai probably would not be too upset: Unlike on Chat Roulette, maybe those lonely guys can find some body with a typical interest, socialize and maybe begin a poker game.
“the top concern that we are wanting to re solve right right right here,” Simkhai claims, “is ‘I’m not sure anybody, and I also have actually absolutely nothing to accomplish: What do i actually do, and that do i actually do it with?’ There clearly was now no better method which will make new buddies and grab yourself from the home and go take action.”
That is one outcome that is possible Blendr. What’s more likely for the reason that situation, but, is the fact that these guys will talk to each never other and certainly will log away from Blendr disappointed that there have been no girls online as they had been searching.
Throughout the very first times following Blendr’s launch — after mentions within the ny instances, Forbes while the Wall Street Journal — the application does seem to have captured a certain demographic: right solitary males within their mid-to-late 20s. Issued, my tests have a pathetically little test size and now have just occurred in Manhattan’s Union Square and East Village areas; but still, centered on those tests, i might place the ratio of males to ladies at around 85 % to 15 per cent. To date, Blendr seems barely a lot more popular with ladies than Grindr, which does not also enable females to participate.
