For over two decades, the diasporic Internet experience has mostly consisted of a multitude of web forums.
While these forums have proven useful to a great number of people, there was never a unified platform to tie together the burgeoning web of diaspora websites; in fact, separate websites exist for nearly every combination of national origin and current location. Whether taking a road trip, moving to a new city, or connecting with multiple diasporas in the same city, all of these actions had required signing up for an entirely new website.
However, after spending my college years immersed within Michigan State University’s soaring international student population, and launching a refugee education non-profit shortly after graduation, I became keenly aware that change was long overdue. To put these plans into action, I became a member of the intra-national “Michigan diaspora” and drove to Silicon Valley to build CultureMesh – the first social networking platform to connect all the world’s diasporas. More...
