Hello Sara,
I also agree with you, nmany sites out there and i dont use just happyplanet. I also use http://www.italki.com and also http://www.ecpod.com
But having said that, i think all are good and we shouldnt complain since all of them are free.. I say the more the better for us learners.

I agree with what you said about potentially even meeting up with some MyHappyPlanet friends when you travel. I myself am a French language learner at MyHappyPlanet and have made a few French language buddies, one of whom I will most likely meet when he visits Singapore on a business trip this December.

To Sara: This is exactly what I think sets MyHappyPlanet apart from other language learning sites. Sure, there have been a few sites that have existed way before we started, and they’re all great, but the key thing MyHappyPlanet offers is the community. The people in this community are just great–people who are genuinely passionate about language and culture, people who genuinely want to help one another out. All the videos and lessons we have on the site are actually contributions of members. We’re not offering a professional learning method but rather this whole fun and practical learning experience. The best part is that you actually meet new friends WHILE learning :)

On a side note, this is to let you know that we have just launched a new version of MyHappyPlanet. If you have logged in to the site in the past 2 weeks, you’d notice that we have made quite a few changes. Search functionality is so much better now, meaning you can search for language partners based on a variety of parameters like age group, sex, and geographical location :) User interface is so much better and it’s now so much easier to correct your friends’ messages than before. I hope you get the chance to have a look at the new site and let us know how you feel about the changes! :)