A Longitudinal Study on the Attitudes of Gay Men in Beijing Towards Gay Social Media Platforms: Lonely Souls in the Digital Concrete Jungle
Yibo Meng, Xiaolan Ding, Lyumanshan Ye, Zhiming Liu, Yan Guan
TL;DR
The study investigates how Beijing gay men’s attitudes toward gay social media platforms evolved from 2014 to 2023 using a nine-year mixed-method longitudinal design that triangulates archival discourse, large-scale surveys, and in-depth interviews. It identifies an early phase of optimism, a middle phase of ambivalence driven by commercialization and discrimination, and a contemporary phase of pragmatic, multi-platform use. The work links platform affordances with identity management and introduces a portfolio-strategy framework to describe how users adapt over time, offering concrete design implications for privacy, non-sexualized community spaces, and algorithmic governance. The findings have practical impact for building more inclusive, secure digital infrastructures that support marginalized communities under sociopolitical pressure. The paper contributes to HCI/CSCW by extending theories of online identity, affordances, and social transition to a long-term, real-world context and by articulating an ethics-driven design agenda for marginalized users.
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.