12. What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications of Blued in Mainland China

Location-based real-time dating (LBRTD) gay platforms have proliferated in recent years, and now have massive user bases worldwide. Both the popular press and academic literature have speculated how and why sexual minority men (SMM) use these platforms. However, studies examining how these platforms are used among Chinese SMM are still limited. This chapter describes specific gratifications for Blued users, contextualizing them within Chinese social, cultural, and political environments. The project adopts a two-study approach to answer two research questions. Adopting a uses and gratifications approach, Study 1 consisted of a pilot study and an online survey. Motivations for Blued use were reported in the pilot study through open-ended descriptions, and then coded into 31 items in the online questionnaire. A total of 406 Blued users completed the online survey. An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed six uses and gratifications: killing time, sexual and romantic goals, social networking and community engagement, social inclusion/approval, searching for health information, and visual/interactive fantasies. Study 2 is ethnographic, associating the satisfaction factors obtained in Study 1 with users’ relevant social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Participants’ Blued use is seen as cynical and instrumental. Although many users felt hopeless about finding a boyfriend on Blued, they continued using the app to maximize the potential of a relationship. General negative perceptions towards Blued users have also been observed. Participants expressed ambivalence regarding their “membership in the gay community” on Blued. The project concludes that Blued has created a sense of “imagined community” (Weeks, 2000) among Chinese gay men. The strength and stability of this “imagined community” warrants further exploration.