Social constructivist account of the world’s largest gay social app: Case study of Blued in China

Abstract

Given China’s political conservativism and limited social acceptance of sexual minorities, it is paradoxical to find that Blued, a gay social app headquartered in Beijing, has become the largest app of this kind globally. Informed by the social construction of technology perspective and based on a yearlong ethnography, this article identifies three major factors that have shaped the developmental trajectory of Blued: (1) work with the Communist Party of China to employ Blued as a health education platform; (2) switch in orientation from a hookup app to a social app; and (3) push for the commercialization and internationalization of the app. This article spotlights that the voices of users were missing in the development process and argues that, for Blued to continue maintaining its success, it must stop relying on the “I-methodology” in its design and development. Lastly, it contributes to the SCOT scholarship and social app studies by deciphering the role of the state in app development in the Chinese context.