matter where they’re from is a direct result of my upbringing – it helps me cut through cultural, racial and social barriers, which is hugely important in the ever increasing multicultural society we live in.”
Marius, like many of us, wants to carry on moving. In 2011, he started researching moving abroad online, trawling through the infinite travel forums, tourist information sites and ex-pat websites, and became increasingly frustrated; “I kept coming across barriers at every turn, having never lived in the countries I was researching I had no idea who to trust, it was all so fragmented, information was conflicting and I couldn’t find any real people to connect to for advice and support.
The one place we all go to for information, the Internet, was virtually no help to me at all – it made me think there must be a better way, and that’s when IslandX was born”.
IslandX is a new social networking site that aims to break down the barriers to international mobility by connecting people all over the world who share advice, information, help and support to those looking to move abroad for whichever reason. Marius says: “I feel there is a real need out there to support global mobility online. We want to promote the benefits of meeting the worlds economic demand for people to move around, making work, study and travel opportunities more visible and more easily attainable, I guess facilitating migration – reducing barriers to international mobility by simplifying the journey.“
IslandX aims to do this by connecting international people, who then share their experiences of where they live or have lived. As
a bonus, it will also connect you with people who live where you want to go – so the information you receive is first-hand, trustworthy, impartial and honest – and these connections could lead to even more opportunities and even friendship.
But does the world really need another social networking site? Marius thinks so, “You have Facebook for your current friends, LinkedIn for maintaining your professional profile and various other sites like TripAdvisor for getting travel recommendations. I think everything you could do, the different actions you can take in the world could technically be supported by a different social networking site, and pulling all these together would work even better.
We want IslandX to be the first port of call for international mobility. We’re not trying to be anything like Facebook, we’re not about keeping in touch with your current network of friends or sharing what you had for dinner or what you are doing in five minutes. We’re about where you want to be and helping you get there.”
His ultimate vision for IslandX is for the site to help you research destinations, find job opportunities in the place you want to go to, organise your move, get you there, and help you to settle in once you’ve arrived. He sees IslandX as solving a problem and fulfilling a need, and one that is set to affect more people as migration soars. He wants to help you manage your move from conception to completion – then enable you to help others with theirs by providing timely, honest advice, and breaking through language barriers by creating a multi-lingual international site.
Marius says, “Your culture is different to that of your parents, and your children’s will be different to yours. It’s always changing and developing, and humans have always adapted to change, without it, we wouldn’t have developed to the advance state we have. It’s entirely natural for us to move around, go where the resources and needs are – it’s in our evolutionary make- up! I hope IslandX will enable this further, by making it easier for you.”
Marius has built the site to facilitate discussion and support in making your move possible, there are many aspects to it, including: location Q&A to ask other members about the place you want to move to, movement pages where members can list where they want to go to next and gain quick access to the city and country information pages on the site, events pages for private or public meet-ups when you get there, and a ‘webwatch’ page collating a news round-up of internet articles related to international living. Members join for free and connect with everyone on the site freely, adding others as friends as you build closer international relationships.
Marius hopes the site will revolutionise global mobility, and as the site builds members, he hopes his international community will reap the benefits a global lifestyle. He laughs, “It’s really is a small world, after all”.
IslandX certainly meets a need, and will cater for the burgeoning mass of people who want to move abroad each year.
Why not sign up for free membership and start planning your next move:
www.IslandX.com
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