TeenXpats - An Expat Community for Teens

TeenxPats, an expat community for teens, was created by Ruairidh Wynne-McHardy. Ruairidh moved to France when he was 14. Roughly 2 years later he realized that there are many resources in existence for adults who move countries, but virtually nothing for teenagers themselves. As such, it only seemed natural to try and fill the gap.

TeenxPats is a free social networking site that is aimed towards teenagers and young people who are moving country, have moved, or are considering doing so. It is a teen expat community site that aim to provide a source of information, support, and way of meeting friends.

Expats Guide:You were very young (and still are) when you started the website. Did you receive any assistance with setting up the site (concept and technology)?

Ruairidh: I had been interested in computing and programming from a reasonably early age
(I was making websites at around 11 years old) so the concept was not particularly difficult. I did save some time in development by purchasing a pre-made script and then modifying it to suit my needs. I'm currently designing the new TeenxPats which promises to be far more professional and intuitive. Screenshots will be appearing on our main site soon!

Expats Guide: From which countries most members of TeenxPat come? What is their country of origin? And what is the average age of your members?

Ruairidh: As the website was initially publicized in France, we have a large member base there. In the year we have been in existence, we have covered 46 countries. The average membership age is between 14 and 17.

Expats Guide: Do you have to be a teen expat in order to become a member?

Ruairidh: Absolutely not, the site was created so that several groups of people could communicate and share information. We added a section into our FAQ to this effect:

"Do I have to be an expat?

Not at all, we don't want this expat community to be closed down and formal! If you're merely thinking about moving country or have friends that are expats then don't hesitate to join!

In fact we've even gone so far as to provide features for the friends of expats in their native country so you guys can keep in touch! You can also *meet* their friends in their new country!

You can have twice as many friends since your buddy moved! I bet you didn't expect that! "

Expats Guide: Does the site support other languages (French, Spanish, Dutch etc'), or is English the only available language on the site?

Ruairidh: We currently have English, French, Polish, and Portugese versions of the site and hope to expand this to include another 5 languages over the next year.

Expats Guide: Many parents are probably wondering if this is a safe social teen expat community. Could you expand about this a bit?

Ruairidh: We were recently publicised on a Spanish forum and concerns were raised about how we moderate it and ensure childrens' safety. Our response can be seen below :

"The safety of our users is our highest priority. When I started the website about a year ago, I went onto various sites such as Facebook and Bebo to see how they managed to protect their users. To put it simply, they don't. There is no website that can fully protect its users, just as no individual can protect others 24/7.

We can however make sure that security is encouraged and that our users are very careful while using the site. We have had no reported incidents pertaining to the usage of the site and make sure that we have a quick look over new members' profiles whenever possible. The major giveaways are when users claim to be coming from one country when the IP address (identifying piece of information which, while forgeable, tends to be genuine) says otherwise. The other giveaway is the writing style. I don't see many 13 year olds with fantastic vocabularies and sophisticated ideas (there are always exceptions though!!).

We encourage teen expat community members to set their profiles to "private" and only to add friends that they know and trust. If a user has any suspicions at all about someone on the site then we have a "Report" function which we may use to investigate anything going on. All messages and other means of contact used on the website between users are logged permanently and so we can easily check if anything has been going on. In the unlikely event of this taking place then we would immediately contact the authorities and provide them with whatever material neccesary in order for them to ensure a member's safety.

Parents are encouraged to join the website (They can be invited by their child) and to take a look around. We may be "TeenxPats" but the older generation is very welcome! In addition to this we have a safety page which is frequently brought to the users' attention in an effort to promote internet safety.

Currently we are undergoing a major re-development of TeenxPats which should include several more features and a more modern design. Included in this re-development are more safety features and more opportunities to remind teen expat community users to be careful while using the website.

Unfortunately we cannot be responsible for users exchanging email or msn addresses and talking outside of the website. We encourage members not to exchange details with people they don't know but of course this is impossible to fully enforce. Instead we encourage parents to monitor their children's internet usage (as I am sure most of you do) and to teach their child about internet safety.

Nothing can be guaranteed, especially in a time when security on the internet is still a fledgling idea. Despite this, we do our best to ensure your childrens' safety and are happy to address any further concerns you may have!

I hope you enjoy the site and that your children find it to be a useful resource!

Expats Guide: What expat community activities are available for teens inside TeenxPats?

Ruairidh: We offer a wide range of features including video, chat, forums, social networking (profiles & comments etc), friend finder, music, polls, groups , blog, bulletins, horoscopes, userbars, photos, competitions and various other features.

Expats Guide:The teen expat community forums on TeenxPats is an amazing place. What are the forums main topics?

Ruairidh: We often see threads asking what life is like in a certain country. Other times we get rants about Country X's education system or how worried people are about exams. It really is very similar to discussion amongst any group of teenagers except it's all very international!

Expats Guide: Did you manage to arrange any offline meetings for members of TeenxPat in any country?

Ruairidh: Not personally though I do know a few have happened (two members became a couple actually!). I have met friends on my website and then realised that they were best friends with people I know. It was rather strange finding new friends on my website, despite them living 20 minutes away!

Expats Guide: Do you have any unique story about how the expat community at TeenxPats assisted a teenager who was experiencing emotional distress?

Ruairidh: Most teenagers who have used the site have adjusted to expats lifestyle remarkably well. I have had a few private messages asking about how to go forwards living in France (in terms of education) and a few questions about what it is like leaving one's friends behind but on the whole, the users seem to have adapted extremely well! The teen expat community is a fairly strong one with extremely friendly members. We are still reasonably small but I hope to maintain this friendly feel to the site!

Expats Guide: Thank you so much Ruairidh. You are doing an amazing work. And for all parents who are reading this interview - TeenxPats is truly a wonderful place for your kids to hangout. It is a friendly and welcoming community - a place where other teen expats can really understand what your kids are going through and are able to provide them an excellent support and friendship.