Once dubbed the “Facebook for moneyed Euros”, The Practice team were keen to learn that online social network, A Small World, is back with a bang. With today marking its relaunch, just what can we expect from the revamped platform, and will it spark a trend for “members only” social media sites?

Founded in 2004 by Swedish count and former banker, Erik Wachtmeister, A Small World offers paying members the trappings of an international lifestyle service in partnership with over 500 luxury global brands. Members can expect to benefit from a “privileges program” that includes perks, upgrades and discounts from renowned partners such as Mandarin Oriental, Cathay Pacific, and fashion designers Derek Lam and Yigal Azrouël, amongst others. Wachtmeister discovered that he’d found a gap in the market, stating: “I realized there was an existing community of people who are connected by three degrees of separation: They stay at the same resorts when they travel, frequent the same restaurants and have similar lifestyles. They needed a platform to share and receive information- it was a huge untapped opportunity,” Membership figures currently stand at 850,000 but this is set to be reduced to 250,000 in attempts to maintain exclusivity. Currently, popular features of the site include job boards, discussion forums, real estate listings and events notifications, and these are set to remain.

So how will the site differ from before, and why was it in need of a makeover? For a start even though many features will continue, the design and interface will be changed. Secondly, only a limited percentage of existing members will be invited to rejoin in order to ensure that users fulfill the criteria typically associated with the international glitterati. Lastly, the previous model relied on revenue from advertisers including Cartier, Moet & Chandon, and Patek Philippe- an idea spearheaded by Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company who acquired a controlling share in A Small World in 2006. However, this proved to interfere with the user experience, perhaps one of the reasons why only 63 per cent of members were active on the site during 2012. Despite this, membership continued to grow to the detriment of brand identity; in short, A Small World’s “members only” premise lost its cache as others started joining. Now, advertising has been scrapped, and in its place will be an annual membership fee of (a relatively small) $105.

There will also be increased emphasis on exclusive events meaning it will be easy for like-minded members to connect and network. The site already hosts around fifty events a month from club meet-ups to VIP entry packages at the Monaco Grand Prix ensuring that unlike Facebook, the site’s concept is about establishing new relations. “Our value proposition isn’t keeping in touch with people you already know. It’s about having a social experience with someone new and trusted,” said CEO Sabine Heller. And to aid all this, members will also benefit from a new app to help them locate others nearby.

Whilst sites like A Small World are few and far between, they do have an established following. Founder Eric Wachtmeister has seen success again with his new social network, Best of All Worlds, after relinquishing his former position in 2008. The platform began with 5000 invited members with current figures standing at 30,000. And there are others which target certain social groups and professions. Valet.com for instance, offers travel benefits for professionals in the creative industries for an annual fee of $199, while Founderscard.com boasts a membership base of 10,000 entrepreneurs who pay $595 a year for perks including upgrades and discounts from partnering companies such as Virgin Atlantic. The Practice team agree that targeting a specific and small community will always make for a great business model- and it’s likely that we’ll continue to see many more emerge off the back of A Small World’s relaunch.

Are you familiar with A Small World or other exclusive networks? And do you believe that certain social media sites have the right to express elitism? We’d love to hear your opinions, so please tweet to and follow us @PracticeDigital and comment via our Facebook page.