Internations.org - Join Expats and Global Minds

“InterNations is the first international online Social Network exclusively for people living and working abroad. As a network of trust, InterNations is a place where its members can interact with other internationally-minded individuals sharing the same situation abroad, similar interests, and needs. Members of InterNations can get and keep in touch with private or work-related friends and acquaintances on a global and local level and exchange trustworthy and relevant information on specific topics with each other”.

Relocating to a foreign country can be a hard time, and if you don’t speak the language of your new place of residence it can turn out to be a lonely experience as well, and thus having the possibility of meeting people whose interests and background you feel comfortable with can be great, especially if you need someone to show you around town, or introduce you to the locals.

Although Internations.org seems like a really good idea, many might find it a bit too personal, in the sense that one must reveal real name and job position to be accepted, and that information is presented in one’s profile, so the whole notion of having a second ‘virtual’ identity becomes quite elusive. And also, I reckon it can be a bit intimidating or uncomfortable to decline an invitation or a request from a person that’s way over in the hierarchy scale, so in a way this social network reproduces and consolidates the power structures of real life, that same power structures that most people try to free themselves of by joining social networks and their promise of anonymity.