Does the world need another social network? Arguably, nooooo, but I happen to believe there’s room for a lot more niche social networks to complement the existing social media juggernauts.
Enter Island X, an invitation-only social network for ‘international people’, i.e. people that have grown up internationally.
Island X’s self-described mission is to “to bring together the most international citizens of the world to support one another, share knowledge, experiences, opportunities, and engage in meaningful relationships”.
Access to the social network is by invitation only at this point, and only people who have actually grown up internationally – typically people who attended or are attending an international school in their country of residence – can get in.
Notably, Island X focuses not on expats but on people who’ve actually grown up in countries other than the one they were born in. From a press release:
“While existing internationally orientated social networks are based on perceptions of being international or on the expat experience, Island X asserts that people that have grown up internationally are entirely different. Culturally and intellectually.”
Remains to be seen if there are enough of them interested in joining Island X.
Island X was founded by Marius Hjelset, who was born in Norway but went on to live in 5 different countries (including the USA, Indonesia, Singapore and England) by age 18.
He has a day job at Vodafone and established the startup in London.
Competitors include asmallworld, InterNations and the yet-to-launch ThirdCultured.