Hans Van Calster (second from left) likes to organize events for fellow expats. Provided to China Daily

Julien Faliu says his expat website has expanded his horizons.

The Web has made one Frenchman a citizen of the world. Mike Peters chats with the virtual globetrotter.

Six years ago, Julien Faliu was living in France but working in London, and then Madrid for a professional website. Even though his business kept him online, he says he couldn't find much information about the places he was living or people like him there. "In 2005 we started talking about blogs," he says. "But there were not so many. I started reading blogs by individuals in Madrid and London and I thought, 'Let's try to get all of these expats on one website and share more experiences." A few months later, expat-blog.com was born. "At the beginning, it was a blogger community but now it's open to everyone - you don't have to have a blog to participate." Six years later, Faliu finds his creation still meets his personal needs. "I am still an expatriate, living in Mauritius now. And professionally, it always helps when you know what the audience needs."

The site does not collect any money for membership, he says.

"We sell e-books on the website. Our expat guides are mostly in French, but we're starting English versions - our US guide has been released in English.

"But we make money on advertising banners, from companies like HSBC and insurers. We're looking for small and medium-sized services (for paid listings), too."

Employment and social networking are both important on the website.

"The idea is to be a bridge between people who are not yet expats and those who have already moved," Faliu says.

"In most countries our numbers break down like this: 40 percent want to move abroad, 45 percent are already expats and 15 percent are locals, including some who are married to expats.

"Obviously there are some intercultural profiles in that last 15 percent."

People find the website and its blogs because they want to network with like-minded people, he says, but they are also looking to find jobs and places to live.

"And a lot of questions are about children," he says. "People want to know things like: Will a certain school be interesting for my child?"

Though the site is worldwide, language barriers are minimal.

"You have to speak English if you are an expat - makes things much easier anywhere," he says. "Of course, we offer a lot in French as well."

Expat-blog.com has 262,206 members worldwide - "that represents 100-percent growth every year", Faliu says.

"At this moment," there is a pause in the telephone call as his fingers tap on the computer keyboard, "8,230 members are in China, including 153 nationalities. China is the fourth-biggest in terms of consultation, but not everyone creates a member profile."

The top regions are the US, France, India, China, Emirates, England, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Australia, Canada and Germany.

"We're very active in the Middle East," he says. "There's lots of recruitment in the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and we were No 1 in Libya. There is still interesting activity there, though some foreigners left when the fighting broke out.

"There have been many nights when I couldn't sleep - I was glued to the computer while members in Egypt, in Tunisia and in Libya were writing about guns in street. It was very scary, especially reading it in real time."

Faliu feels like he's seeing the world without leaving his desk, but sometimes he wishes he was using his passport as much as his keyboard.

"All of these places have become special with me - I'm interested in every destination.

"When I speak with someone I get interested and I want to come visit. When I created the blog, part of the idea was that I would travel a lot, but

"There are countries I never thought I would travel to but that I'm now eager to see," he says. "Saudi Arabia is one.

"Now I feel like I know people everywhere in the world - and I would have a lot of fun traveling. I am open to any destination."

And how did he end up in Mauritius?

"One of our members proposed a contract with them here as a technical director for a startup. It was a six-month contract - now I've been here for four years."

And, what's next for the site? Will there be refinements?

"We're organizing some language exchanges on the site and hope to do more soon. Flat share is another common interest," he says.

You can contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn.