[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzWKJX7LZ1g?feature=oembed&w=100&h=100]
Home may be where the heart is, but a new app can make it such that home is where you are. Pivt is intended specifically for expats, travelers, and other folks abroad just looking for a community to call their own — even if only for a short while. The app promises to help its users find and connect with folks in their extended social networks, specifically those with similar interests. The goal? To make any city feel like home.
A recent study from the University of Virginia suggests, unsurprisingly perhaps, that moving can be associated with “shallower or lower-quality social relationships.” Add to that the notion that people start losing friends at 25, an age at which many young people are still finding new homes, and it becomes easy to see that the idea of making friends can be a rather daunting one. Pivt co-founder Lynn Greenberg found this to be the case herself when she moved to London following her graduation from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“After going to bars by myself, withstanding one too many blind dates, and trying out other meetup platforms without much success, I decided to create my own solution,” Greenberg told Digital Trends. The trick, she noted, was to tap into her “existing trusted networks of people,” with whom she already had a shared connection. In much the way that Hinge believes that having a mutual connection is a good basis for a romantic relationship, Pivt believes that the same must be true for friendship. A natural conclusion, but not one that other apps have drawn quite yet.
Pivt boasts a proprietary messaging platform that uses personalized, interest-based group and private chats to connect users with their friends, friends of friends, or potential friends from within a mutual network, be it your hometown, university, or workplace. Moreover, with Pivt Communities, users can connect with others with similar interests and goals in their new city. They’ll also be able to tap into this broader network to ask for recommendations, create gatherings, or stay up-to-date with local events, shared hobbies, or general happenings in their new city.
“I start every day energized by our mission to make any city feel like home,” Greenberg said. “By taking some of the fear out of moving and traveling, we hope that Pivt will make it possible for more people to go to unfamiliar places, embrace opportunity, and expand their outlooks.”
You can download Pivt on the the App Store or on Google Play.
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