Who Are the Smileys? Our Community by the Numbers

A snapshot of the people behind the profiles, as of late October 2026.

Every week, new faces show up at a picnic, a hike or a language exchange and ask the same question: who else is here? So we counted.

2,115 members, 111 nationalities

Smileys now has 2,115 approved members holding 111 different nationalities. About 42% are from Türkiye. The other 58% came from all over the world. After Türkiye, the biggest groups are from Pakistan, Iran, the United States, Syria and Egypt, followed by the UK, Russia, Germany, Algeria and Italy.

Many members speak three languages or more. English, Turkish, Arabic, French, Spanish, German, Persian and Russian are the most common.

A close gender balance

The community is 55% men and 44% women, with about 1% choosing another option or preferring not to say. Among international members the split is even closer, at 53% men and 47% women.

Young, but not only young

The median member is 32, and six in ten are under 35. But nearly a quarter are 40 or older, and more than 100 members are 50-plus. Smileys isn't a student club or a nightlife crowd. It's a mix.

Why they're in Istanbul

Work is the most common reason members give for being in the city, at about 29%. Roughly one in five came to study, and about one in eight list "student" as their occupation. Others are digital nomads, people who moved for a partner or family, and locals who simply enjoy an international crowd.

The most common jobs are teachers, engineers and software developers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and doctors.

What they love and what they want

The most popular interests are the outdoors, socializing, languages, dining and networking. Nearly 700 members picked sailing.

Asked what they're looking for, members put friendship first, ahead of networking, language exchange and people to do things with. And when asked to describe their social style, the top answer by far was "deep talker."

Where they meet

Kadıköy is home base, with more members than any other district, followed by Şişli and Beşiktaş.

Smileys has 170 active clubs, and they are as mixed as the community. Members from 66 countries have joined the Picnic club and 64 have joined Hiking. Coworking, Social Games and Arts each draw members from more than 50 countries.

More than 330 events have taken place so far, with nearly 3,900 RSVPs. Sunday is the busiest day, then Saturday, and Wednesday is the favorite weeknight. A typical event brings together about a dozen people, and the biggest drew 79. When attendance was recorded, close to nine in ten people who signed up showed up. Members have also started more than 100 hangouts of their own, the spontaneous plans anyone can post.

Friendships without borders

Members have made nearly 1,300 connections on Smileys and exchanged more than 2,700 private messages. And here is our favorite number: four out of five of those connections are between people from different countries.

People come to Smileys from more than a hundred countries, at every stage of life, for work, study or love. Most of them want the same thing: real people to talk to, in person.