How to Use RealLife Global
Welcome to RealLife Global!
This is a new website, and I know for some people, it can be confusing to know how it works. So below, I will walk you through the different features, what you can do, and how to make friends. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read, then jump in the website and explore.
Features
Forum – Here you can ask and answer questions and participate in discussions about all sorts of topics. It’s a great way to practice your writing and meet people of similar interests.
Members – Here you can browse and search all of the website’s members. They are in the order of most recently signed up, so why not say ‘Hello’ to a new member?
Friends – Here you can see all of your existing friends in the website. You must be friends with someone in order to text chat or video chat with them.
Text and Video Chat – On the right side of the page you can also see your friends. If they are online, you can text chat or video chat with him or her right on the website (no outside applications like Skype or Hangouts are even necessary! Remember to always ask for permission before calling someone (see community rules here).
Power Chat – This is the most unique functionality of RealLife Global. The Power Chat is a fun, new and addictive way to make new friends and practice your English. To use the Power Chat there are some requirements (very sorry if it causes any inconveniences!):
- Be on a computer (sorry, but it’s not available for tablets or smartphones, yet–coming soon!)
- Be on Chrome or Firefox (unfortunately, the video does not work on other browsers)
- Have a working webcam and microphone
- Have a fast connection
Once you have all that, it’s really easy, just press ‘Start’ and be connected with a randomly chosen English learner, speaker or teacher from 140+ countries for a 3-minute conversation. If you want to talk longer, just press the ‘+’ button to add three more minutes (both you and your speaking partner must press it in order to extend, so remember to ask them if they want to extend).
Is six minutes still not enough? Then you can add your partner as a friend and call them on normal video chat outside of the Power Chat with no timer.
Have any questions? Then just click the ‘?‘ in the bottom-left corner and let me know! I’ll respond to you as soon as possible.
How Can I Make Friends?
Some people aren’t quite sure how they can find and make new friends.
So, you can make friends by adding people from the MEMBERS PAGE or finding interesting people in the FORUM and adding them. But I think the best way is by joining the POWER CHAT, meeting people there face-to-face, and adding people who you get along with as friends (you can then chat or video chat with them later).
We have online ‘parties’ in the Power Chat every Wednesday at 19.00 and Saturday at 12.00 (times are for São Paulo, Brazil–check your timezone here). This is the best time to meet A LOT of people, so put it on your calendar and meet us then!