Blued India has gone one step ahead to reach out to the community, to create a safe space for all those trying to come out of the closet and meet like-minded people. Blued India App, which helps same-sex couples find their significant others, comes with no location limitation and can help establish a conversation with anyone, anywhere on the planet. A user can verify their profiles and connect with a verified profile to continue conversations. In conversation with TMM, Sanyam Sharma, Marketing Lead, Blued India, and Palash Borah, CSR Manager, Blued India, talks about the change the application is bringing to society and the future of LGBTQ dating apps in India.
How do you see the growth of LGBTQ dating apps in India?
Palash: The change has begun for a better tomorrow and the best thing about the dating apps in the present scenario is, they are not just being used for ‘Dating’, rather people are using them to connect with like-minded people, build a platform for intellectual exchange and that is what I feel has been the biggest move of the LGBTQ dating apps in India.
Sanyam: Today, dating apps are offering more than the obvious and the change has been because of the demand by the community people. I feel that people are changing their mindset and technology is playing a key role in making people broaden their horizons. Looking at the change, I am sure the future of dating apps in India is pretty bright!
What role Blued India is playing in making it an inclusive world?
Sanyam: Ever since we started our motive has been to involve people of the community in various activities that can make them feel a part of the mainstream society. We keep organizing online and offline events that help them explore new avenues of life and that is the foremost step towards making an inclusive world.
Palash: As Sanyam said, we keep organizing events and also, including them in debates of mainstream society helps them have a voice, which has been suppressed all these years. I personally feel that letting them live a normal life is the easiest way of making an inclusive world and that is what we are trying to do with all our initiatives.
Crimes via dating apps are not new in the LGBTQ community. Your comment.
Palash: The feature of connecting Blued to other social media accounts has been a step towards making the space safer. We agree that ill-minded people find their ways, but at the end of the day, with the help of technology, now every activity is traceable and our team keeps a check on every sort of mischievous activity and reports to the concerned authority, as and when reported.
Sanyam: Crime is a part of human existence, and that can’t be denied or neglected. However, we as a responsible company make sure that our users don’t face any trouble because of a gap in the app that may lead to a major issue in their life. Also, we are working on advancing the mechanism to make it way safer in near future.
What is the USP of Blued India and how is it different from the other players in the Indian market?
Palash: Here, users can sign into Blued through their existing social media accounts. We encourage our users to self verify themselves by linking one of their social media accounts. It helps the community at large to report any user who doesn’t follow the company’s guidelines. The app allows users to sync their Instagram posts within Blued with 30 days’ previous photos/videos as well as new updates. These features are one of a kind that does not cater to other dating apps. Our core features are Live Stream, Video Chat, and Groups formed by our users. These features don’t have location limitations hence allow our users to connect easily.
Blued India recently partnered with IIT Delhi to build a community dedicated to LGBTQ. Can you tell a bit about it and what’s the motive behind it?
Palash: Through this, we worked on campaigns to spread awareness about LGBTQ rights. To reach out to local India, we also collaborated with RED FM to reach out to an audience belonging to all sections of society and hosted the first-ever podcast specially dedicated to the LGBTQI community. The idea is to take the concept of ‘love is love’ a notch higher and to do so; the right audience is college students because they can bring the change with their energy.
How do you see social media as a tool for generating awareness?
Sanyam: I feel it’s an effective medium to keep the momentum high and remind people to address the agenda on priority. While memes, advertisements, and videos are effective in keeping the conversation active, the real dialogue can only happen when people are ready to talk, discuss, and debate and for that, we need to come back to the real world. And that is what we are trying to do with ground-level campaigns and activities, and things will shape up very soon!
What are the future plans of Blued India?
Palash: We are planning to do more real-world experiments and involve people at ground level. This will not only help Blued India to reach the remotest areas but will also people to be all-inclusive and be heard in the new normal. We will be organizing many more conferences and seminars that will enlighten the masses and make the planet Earth, a better place.
Sanyam: The idea is to make the world understand the value of this life and for that, they need to value humans first. Connecting with people in the real world will make things easier and going forward technology will lead the path to success.
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