Inspired by the clamorous spectacle of Spotify Wrapped, the gay dating app Grindr has come up with their own version of a year-end assessment, with some interesting data.
Last week, the Los Angeles-based app announced the results of their Grindr Unwrapped compilation for 2020, showcasing the many ways its 13 million users across the globe have engaged with the app. Some categories include most frequently used emojis — surprise, surprise, it’s the eggplant — and most active cities per capita. Washington, D.C. topped the list, followed by Paris, Bogota, Santiago and Houston.
This year, Vietnam was named by Grindr Unwrapped as one of the top five countries with the highest percentage of bottoms, joining Sweden, Peru, Thailand and South Africa. For percentage of tops, the top five includes Morocco, India, Nigeria and Chile. Venezuela, Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico and Australia, on the other hand, are the nations with the biggest shares of vers.
Graphics via Grindr.
These curious rankings are sure to inspire heated debate, though the company emphasized that their report is not meant to be taken seriously, but only “a fun and informal way to help our users get to know each other better.” The statistics was compiled using the data users display on their personal profile, so it’s likely to be only representative of a portion of queer people in any given nation — “not all Grindr users include this information on their profiles,” the company declares. Moreover, not all queer Vietnamese use Grindr.
While the presence of Grindr is ubiquitous in international markets, queer Vietnamese have more favored channels for online dating. The China-based gay social network Blued, for example, has been downloaded 2.2 million times in Vietnam, compared to Grindr’s 800,000, according to Nikkei Asia. The more general Tinder has also been making inroads among local youths of different orientations thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and a rebranding that steers away from the sex-focused reputation it has accrued internationally.
App-based business in Southeast Asia is a fast-growing realm that’s attracting developers from a variety of sectors. Match Group, Tinder’s owner, said earlier this year that it has prioritized business development in Asia. The company appointed a general manager for South Korea and Southeast Asia last year and established physical operations in Japan and Indonesia.
