Grindr wants you to know it's not just a hookup app, launches online magazine
Grindr might be your go-to place for a date, but it will now also hook you up with some hot #content too. The dating app has just launched an LGBTQ online magazine in an effort to establish itself as a "lifestyle brand."
SEE ALSO: Move over Emily Dickinson, Grindr has a poet in residence
The new digital magazine, or content platform for want of a better term, is called Into and it will comprise "a collection of articles, videos, photography, and more that celebrate and represent the modern LGBTQ world." Grindr says Into will serve as a "barometer" and "a digital window into the LGBTQ world," publishing content on things like fashion and music, to current events and advice for the LGBTQ community. It aims to be an "all-inclusive" site that's "open to everyone with a message or story that needs to be heard."
"After hearing from our very engaged 3 million daily active users, it became clear that giving them content, through Into, that has a global perspective, but is also personalized and local will help them connect to a whole range of things they need in their day to day life," explains Joel Simkhai, founder and CEO of Grindr. Grindr has been preparing for this launch for several months by establishing a roster of contributors including writers, influencers, activists, photographers and filmmakers including Ren Hang, Michael Bailey Gates and Slava Mogutin. According to a statement, the contributors have been chosen for their work at the "intersection of emerging LGBTQ culture and what in-the-know audiences are talking about" and they will produce a wide range of content. Readers can expect to see interviews with artists and gay couples, city portraits showcasing date spots in cities as well as pop culture commentary and grooming how-to articles. The platform will curate "uplifting" positive stories, real-time advice on where to go in cities around the world, info on the latest trends from people setting them, and first-person accounts of LGBTQ events and issues. "People hook up on Grindr, but it’s about more than that. Into focuses a lot on travel, since our users like to travel and go out," Simkhai said in an interview with Forbes. "Into will help you navigate while travelling, as we’ll share travel info relating to nightlife, culture and where to hang out."
It's Grindr's "first major foray into digital publishing" and to say it's an interesting move would be an understatement. Grindr clearly wants to establish itself as more than just a hookup app.
"One thing we hear a lot from the younger generation, is that they don’t like the definition of hookup app," said Grindr's creative director Landis Smithers.
Smithers says that, for a long time, they've let people make their own assumptions about the app, but that people use Grindr in many different ways. "Sometimes it’s just to kill time, or it can be to get club recommendations, or just to meet new people," says Smithers.
Topics Apps & Software LGBTQ
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
