When it's not being used by straight journalists looking for a cheap story, Grindr can be a wonderful global communication tool. More than 38,000 men from 109 nations used the hookup app while attending the Rio Olympics, and the Grindr team has issued some statistics to rank the most "performing" countries, handing the gold to its most active users, at least digitally. After analyzing more than 14 million messages, here's what they found:
Most Guys in Attendance
The gold medal goes to Brazilians (no surprise here, since they were hosting the Games), with 28,544 guys on Grindr during the event. USA gets the silver (with 1,322 users), and bronze goes to Great Britain (411 users).
Runner ups: Argentina came in 4th, followed by Mexico (5th place) and Spain (6th).
Most Daily Messages Sent Per Guy
An unexpected performance from Qatar (a country where homosexuality is still illegal), which gets the gold medal for most daily messages sent, per person, during the Games. Two possible explanations: The Qatari must have been extra-busy catching up on some much-needed man-on-man action. Or, one blue-balled Qatari user just went to town and messaged every possible guy he could find in his vicinity. As for the second and third place, the island of Curacao wins silver, and Guatemala snatches the bronze.
Runner ups: Bahrain (4th place), South Africa (5th), Australia (6th)
Most Countries Contacted Per Guy
Congratulations, Australia! Apparently men Down Under are really into diversity, since they win the gold medal for reaching out to the most countries on the app. Thailand and Russia also get a medal, tying up for second place.
Next: Singapore (4th), South Africa (5th), Dominican Republic (6th)
Most Messages With Brazilians
That's another gold medal for Team USA, who has an affinity for Brazilian men, apparently. According to Grindr's lab, more than 443,000 messages were exchanged between American citizens and the locals. Great Britain gets the silver medal in this category, evidencing a strong interest in Cariocas. Finally, Mexico comes in third place to get the bronze, but far behind its Anglo-Saxon buddies.
Runner ups: Argentina (4th), France (5th), Australia (6th)
Most Daily Images Sent Per Guy
Men hailing from South Africa are dick pic aficionados (we assume) since they get the gold medal for sending the most images per guy. Logically, Qatar and Curacao, two countries that received distinctions for intense texting during the Games, get the silver and bronze, respectively.
Runner ups: Finland (4th), Spain (5th), Guatemala (6th)
Where Are Grindr Users in Rio Visiting From?
The map below illustrates the provenance of Grindr users in Rio de Janeiro. The darkest blue means more users came from that country, while the lighter shade of green indicates fewer than 100 users by country. Countries left in gray had no data.
Source: Data collected by Grindr Labs
