“Lavenderblu” was a young girl when she got her first taste of domestic violence.
Websites could become important like churches that offer adviceLONDON: “Lavenderblu” was a young girl when she got her first taste of domestic violence. After suffering at the hands of her father and witnessing repeated attacks on her mother, she ended up in a violent relationship of her own before finally managing to leave and find refuge with a women’s support group.
Now, at age 40, she is one of many mentors on the new social network Horsesmouth which has been set up to connect mentors with those who are looking for advice.
Launched only about a month ago, the site already has over 20,000 users and offers up mentors to discuss a wide variety of topics, from how to set up a business to how it feels to wear the Muslim hijab for the first time.
In launching the service, the site’s creator, MT Rainey, set out to bring a sense of public purpose to the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon, which allows users to contribute their own content to the Internet.
“No one was creating a social network for a public benefit or for the public good,” she said. “I wanted to create somewhere that was safe and somewhere that was fit for purpose, for meaningful interchanges online. She said that people going through a difficult process need to talk, often to someone familiar with the situation, who has been in their shoes before.
The Horsesmouth is one of many mentoring sites to spring up recently and the phenomenon could become more important as once-powerful traditional bodies such as the church or unions start to lose their sway in certain countries.
In the creative industries such as music, advertising, media and the arts, many are turning to the new social network set up by The Hospital Club group.
The private club opened in 2003 in a former London hospital and was based on the vision of musician Dave Stewart, who wanted a “creative melting pot” in the centre of the British capital where members could give something back to the industry.
Five years on, it has also launched a social network at thehospitalclub.com, where users from those industries can post ideas, blogs and their work to communicate with others.
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