Romeo (until 2021 PlanetRomeo) is a

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

for

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

people. The site was started as a hobby and was called GayRomeo in October 2002 by Planetromeo GmbH in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. Initially only available in German the site and later its mobile app have evolved into an international platform.

History

Initially, the site was available only in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and hence it used to have a majority of users being from German-speaking countries. The website and apps are currently available in six languages. The German-speaking community remains the largest community but not the majority. It has been operated by Planetromeo B.V. located in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

since September 2006. The site name was changed from GayRomeo to PlanetRomeo. In 2021 the name changed again, from ''PlanetRomeo'' to simply ''Romeo''. The Romeo website, iOS app and Android app are commonly used by the male gay community to find friends, dates, love or obtain information abou
LGBT+ topics

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), referring to the well known telephone directories the

yellow pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...

and the

white pages A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

. In a satirical reference to the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s' compilation of lists of

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

men in the 1930s, the German newspaper "

Taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

" announced: "The pink lists are back".

PlanetRomeo users by country, as of 11th May 2016

Features

Personal profiles

To access Romeo, users (affectionately referred to as Romeos) create a profile which can include a physical description, a list of sexual preferences, personal interests and one or more photographs of themselves. Sex workers and escorts can also advertise their services by creating their own profiles on the Hunqz section of the website.

Clubs and Guide profiles

Aside from personal

messaging A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. ...

, Romeo offers users the chance to create Club and Guide profiles as another way of connecting with

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

sharing similar interests. For example, a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

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 A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

, members of religious groups and employees working in particular industries; some clubs have a more playful and sexual orientation. Any user can create a club-profile. In March 2009 the online community Guys4Men.com joined ROMEO.Article of Austrian magazine "Gayboy"
(in German)

Community information

In February 2007, Romeo launched a live and online health advice service in cooperation with Deutsche Aids-Hilfe, Germany's national

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

for

HIV/Aids Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

issues. Contact information for

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

support groups and organisations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland is also provided on the

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

. 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.

References

External links

* {{LGBT social networking services LGBT social networking services LGBT-related Internet forums Internet properties established in 2002 Same sex online dating Gay men's websites Online dating services of Germany