PlanetRomeo

ROMEO B.V.
Type of site
 Geosocial networking
Available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
Owner ROMEO B.V.
Created by Jens Schmidt and Manuel Abraham
Revenue Membership fee for PLUS accounts in certain countries; advertising.[1]
Website www.planetromeo.com
Commercial Yes
Registration Yes
Users Increase 3.4 million (as of November 2017)
Launched October 2002
Current status Active

PlanetRomeo, also known as Romeo, is a social network for gay, bisexual and transgender people. The site was started as a hobby and was called GayRomeo in October 2002 by Planetromeo GmbH in Berlin, Germany. It was initially only available in German but has evolved into an international sphere. The ROMEO website, iOS app and Android app are commonly used by the male gay community to find friends, dates, love or get informed about LGBT+ topics.

Initially, the site was available only in German and hence it used to have a majority of users being from German-speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The website and apps are currently available in 6 languages. The German-speaking community remains the largest community but not the majority. It has been operated by Planetromeo B.V. located in Amsterdam, Netherlands since September 2006.

Blue Pages

In Germany, due to its high number of registered users, ROMEO is often called the "Gay Registry Office" (schwules Einwohnermeldeamt) or "The Blue pages" (Die blauen Seiten),[2] referring to the well known telephone directories the yellow pages and the white pages. In a satirical reference to the Nazis' compilation of lists of homosexual men in the 1930s, the German newspaper "Taz" announced: "The pink lists are back".[3]

Features

Personal profiles

To access ROMEO, users (affectionately referred to as Romeos) create a profile which typically includes a simple physical description, personal interests, and one or more photographs of themselves.[4][5] Sexual preferences, cultural interests and hobbies can be added optionally. ROMEO is a community where people are encouraged to truly live out all aspects of their queer life.[6]

Clubs and Guide profiles

Aside from personal messaging, ROMEO offers users the chance to create Club and Guide profiles as another way of connecting with gay men sharing similar interests. For example, a bar or sauna creates a Club or Guide profile, to which Romeos either can join and or link their private profiles. The administrators of the Club and Guide profiles can send direct messages to their members. Club members exchange news or discuss various subjects in the club's forum or via a newsletter. Clubs also exist for supporters of political parties, members of religious groups and employees working in particular industries; some clubs have a more playful and sexual orientation. There are also fan-clubs for pop or movie stars, classical music, etc. In fact, since any user can create a club-profile, the list is limitless.

Hunqz

Male companion profiles from hunqz.com can be viewed on a special tab from within the planetromeo.com website.

Other

In March 2009 the online community Guys4Men.com joined ROMEO.[7]

Community information

In February 2007, ROMEO launched a live and online health advice service in cooperation with Deutsche Aids-Hilfe, Germany's national NGO for HIV/Aids issues. Contact information for HIV/AIDS support groups and organisations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is also provided on the website. Romeos receive answers online about health and best practices for safer sex; many of the health supporters speak more than one language. Other links lead to the ROMEO Blog and PlanetRomeo Foundation.

Controversies on ROMEO

Safe sex

ROMEO BV offers general Dating Tips [8] to help protect user profiles, their privacy, actions to take against scammers and fakers, and how to avoid uncomfortable situations, as well as before, during and after dating suggestions.

There is no censoring of user profiles that promote unsafe sex or barebacking, but the company supports users stating their position in their profiles regarding safer sex.

In addition to the health information available on the site, in February 2007 ROMEO launched a live and online health advice service in cooperation with Deutsche Aids-Hilfe, Germany's national NGO for HIV/Aids issues. The online supporters are trained in questions of health and healthcare, and all user inquiries are dealt with in the strictest confidence. In this way users are offered the same level of service as when Deutsche Aids-Hilfe do their outreach work in gay bars, clubs and saunas.

PlanetRomeo Foundation

In 2009 PlanetRomeo Foundation was established by PlanetRomeo BV in the Netherlands, and is an independent, registered non-profit. PlanetRomeo Foundation provides funding to grassroots emerging LGBTI projects and initiatives in countries and regions where LGBTI rights are most severely infringed. The Foundation supports projects which provide Shelter, as well as projects under the themes of Community Organizing and Sports & Culture. Its support focuses on achieving societal change in order to improve the position of LGBTI people throughout the world, with an emphasis on the most disadvantaged regions and communities. By providing grants up to €5,000 PlanetRomeo Foundation sets out to be a stepping stone and fill funding gaps between zero funding and access to larger grants. The website of PlanetRomeo Foundation can be found at .

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Delhi gay parties need to stop being transphobic". Dailyo.in. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  2. ↑ http://www.neon.de/artikel/fuehlen/sex/gayromeo-oder-warum-man-schwule-nicht-daten-sollte/1065983
  3. ↑ Die Tageszeitung - Gefährlich hoher Datingfaktor (in German)
  4. ↑ "Aussie priest, who fled to Malaysia, reportedly seeking 'young Asian men', AsiaOne Malaysia News". News.asiaone.com. 2016-02-10. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  5. ↑ Thackray, Lucy (2016-02-11). "Australian priest Peter Grasby accused of sexually abusing a boy fled to Malaysia | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  6. ↑ "PlanetRomeo About Us". PLANETROMEO. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
  7. ↑ Article of Austrian magazine "Gayboy" (in German) Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ "Dating tips". PLANETROMEO. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
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