Chinese Gay App Blued Reaches 2m Users

Chinese gay app Blued has reached 2m members in a year.

The Beijing-based app lets users connect via location to chat, swap photos and share content from social media sites like Weibo and Tencent QQ.

Launched in August 2012, the app has amassed 2m members, 68.3% of whom are active monthly users, 24% are daily users.

They have yet to monetise the app, but did receive $3m funding earlier in the year.

The app was produced by startup company Danlan, which was founded by 36-year-old former policeman Ma Baoli.

Ma has long been a champion of gay rights in China.

(Photo Credit: China Daily)

In 2000, he started an autobiographical blog about his experiences of being gay in China’s conservative culture.

The blog was very popular and in 2006 he evolved it into China’s first gay website – Danlan.

The site – a gay networking, forum and dating community – had a troubled birth, as Ma explained to the People’s Daily:

“Our website got closed one time after another because the authorities thought gay websites violated social ethics.”

This caused him to move the servers and team from his hometown of Qinhuangdao to Beijing.

The site has grown to 3m registered users and also helps to spread awareness about HIV – offering a free test in collaboration with the Chinese health authorities.

And with Blued, Ma has continued this work and has plans to launch a lesbian version of the app – Pink’d – in the near future.