VoxSwap social network adds video and Skype

VoxSwap the social network for people learning and practising languages has added a video service and integrated Skype, so budding linguists can now hear and see as well as type text.

It means users can now watch education and entertainment videos in a wide selection of languages so they can see and hear the words and phrases they are seeking to learn and pronounce properly.

VoxSwap users can add videos to the service at the press of a button to help one another learn and practise each other’s languages.

Also VoxSwap users can now hear and see one another when they are chatting.

Until now, chatting had been limited to text but with the integration of Skype users can talk to one another, and even video conference, for free.

Co-founder Sean Hargrave believes this is a major step forward for the site.

Sean set up the site with his wife, Nicole, at the start of 2008 to give social networking a purpose.

Rather than compile lists of friends and have virtual snowball fights, VoxSwap allows people to talk in multiple languages so users can help one another progress - hence the site’s motto of ‘make friends, learn a language’.

The new features of video and Skype will sit alongside a virtual keyboard, which offers characters and accents users may not have on their keyboards, as well as a built-in Google Translator for understanding phrases and words.

Included with the upgrade to the site are new features to improve the internal email system and allow people to take more control over their contact with one another.

These additions include the ability to delete emails and comments people no longer want on their profile or mail box, as well as the ability to block a user.