Launched in 2007, TierraNatal positions itself as the place for US Hispanics to keep in touch with friends, family and others from their towns in Mexico.

At the core of the site are the towns themselves.  Each town is provided with its own profile that allows members to add photos, view other members and update the town's wiki.  The list of towns you can select is very comprehensive, even including some obscure town names you probably never heard of.  The towns themselves are organized by Municipio (Somewhere between a county and a city), making it a bit difficult to find your town if you don't already know which municipio it belongs to.

Members too, have their own profiles that allow them to add towns they belong to (multiple affiliations are allowed), add their photo, request to be friends and send each other messages.  In addition to finding others from your towns, it has a subtle dating component that allows you to search for other based on your interests and town affiliation.

Searching through the site, the majority of the members appear to be in the U.S.  However, the site is available in both English and Spanish which allows it to target both U.S. Hispanics with ties to towns in Mexico, as well as members in Mexico with friends and family in the U.S.

Currently, the site is focused exclusively on towns in Mexico, but I'd like to see this extended to the rest of Latin American countries. Also, adding a search box when selecting a town would help if you don't already know which municipio your town belongs to.

It would be interesting to see this site's functionality integrated into other websites that cater to U.S. Hispanics, or as a FaceBook application.

Overall, TierraNatal provides a beautifully designed website with the right tools needed to reconnect with your part of Mexico when you feel nostalgic.

Take a look at my town's profile Comala, Colima:
http://town6766.tierranatal.com/

- Andrés