Uncovering HIV Prevention Opportunities: Towards an Exploration of the use of CMC Applications by Young Men that have Sex with Men (YMSM) in Seeking Sexual Partners

“Given that past research has found that the expression of sexual behavior may be attributed to site characteristics and the sexual negotiations that do or do not take place with partners met in these sites, future research should examine whether specific sites, or site characteristics, encourage or dissuade YGBM (young gay and bisexual men) from engaging in unprotected sex with prospective partners.”[3] As the 30th anniversary of the first recognition of the HIV epidemic in the United States is marked on 5 June 2011, the public health community is witnessing dramatic upticks in domestic HIV infection rates especially among YMSM. The gauntlet has been thrown down to investigate the role and nature of online safer sex negotiation behaviors as “the unique communication features of the Internet, particularly the anonymity it affords users and the ability to locate sex partners seeking similar sexual experiences, has the potential to dramatically alter condom negotiation and HIV status disclosure ” [1]. This work begins to respond to that conjecture in offering empirical evidence of how safer sex (i.e. condom) negotiation and HIV status disclosure behaviors are influenced/shaped through the use CMC applications. The prominence and rise of the popularity and adoption of CMC applications (e.g. Location