A Longitudinal Study on the Attitudes of Gay Men in Beijing Towards Gay Social Media Platforms: Lonely Souls in the Digital Concrete Jungle

TL;DR

This longitudinal study examines how gay men in Beijing's attitudes towards social media platforms evolved from enthusiastic community builders to pragmatic, critical users, highlighting shifts driven by commercialization, discrimination, and diverse platform use.

Contribution

It provides a detailed temporal framework of attitude changes over a decade and insights into designing more supportive digital environments for marginalized groups.

Findings

Initial enthusiasm for social apps as community tools (2014-2017)

Growing critique due to commercialization and discrimination (2017-2020)

Current pragmatic and critical platform use (2020-2023)

Abstract

Over the past decade, specialized social networking applications have become a cornerstone of life for many gay men in China. This paper employs a longitudinal mixed-methods approach to investigate how Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) have shifted their attitudes toward these platforms between approximately 2013 and 2023. Drawing on archival analysis of online discourses, a quantitative survey of 412 participants, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 participants, we trace the complex trajectory of this evolution. Our findings reveal a clear pattern: from the initial embrace of these applications as revolutionary tools for community building and identity affirmation (2014--2017), to a period of growing ambivalence and critique centered on commercialization, ``hookup culture,'' and multiple forms of discrimination (2017--2020), and finally to the present era (2020--2023), characterized by pragmatic, fragmented, yet simultaneously critical and reconstructive uses. Today, users strategically employ a repertoire of applications -- including global platforms (e.g., Grindr and Tinder), domestic mainstream platforms (e.g., Blued), and niche alternatives (e.g., Aloha) -- to fulfill differentiated needs. We develop a detailed temporal framework to capture this attitudinal evolution and discuss its design implications for creating more supportive, secure, and community-oriented digital environments for marginalized groups.