Xiha Life was a multilingual social networking website. It integrates Google's automatic translation software, Google Translate, which enables users to instantly translate comments and posts within the site itself.[1] [2] The user interface has been translated into 42 languages, and the system supports communication in 56 languages.[3] Xiha Life has 750,000 members worldwide, with no single country comprising more than 5% of its membership.[4]
Xiha Life was founded on September 28, 2007, by Jani Penttinen, who serves as its CEO. The name, "Xiha", is Mandarin for "happy" or "joyful".[5] In 2009, Xiha was named one of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to promising European tech companies.[6]
Its board includes Jaiku co-founder and former Google Project Manager Jyri Engeström, Jan Achenius and Ville Miettinen. Xiha Life is operated out of Sunnyvale, California, Switzerland, and Finland.[7] [8]