Moreover, sexual minority men (and particularly those who are less open about their sexual identities) may prefer to utilize location-aware applications to connect with other men discreetly.
Location-aware applications allow users to identify other GBM (often an “invisible” identity) in their geographical vicinity. Footnote 1 Individuals use Grindr and similar location-aware applications for a variety of purposes-to meet new friends, to establish relationships and, in many cases, to arrange casual sexual encounters. Grindr, which was launched in 2009, has emerged as one of the most important location-aware applications with over 2 million daily users in 192 countries. Geospatial gay social networking mobile applications (henceforth “location-aware applications”) play a significant role in the lives of many gay and bisexual men (GBM) (Goedel and Duncan 2015).
