“With the upcoming 2014-15 school year quickly approaching, our apps are perfect to get any college student settled in,” says Justin. JoinU allows students to connect with classmates, discover shared interests, and like similar dorm locations or major.
While the ed-tech space is a billion dollar industry and competitor sites do exist, JoinU is unique to the college market.
Dan states that what differentiates JoinU is that it is “the only social network that connects students based on common characteristics and interests like major, interests, residence hall, and more.” Other features allow users to “like” each other to show interest in pursuing a relationship, send direct messages to classmates or teammates, and use hashtags to connect with other students based on their conversations.
However, any new technology presents security challenges and concerns, especially when dealing with students.
To prevent any potential security risks, Dan says that they will be including a school verification (.edu) function in the app to validate that students attend their school.
JoinU has received mostly positive reviews from user testimonies. Justin notes that the only negative reviews come from students that wanted to use the app in schools not currently in the database. “We continue to add new schools to the app every week, so they won’t have to wait long!”
Michael Sharnoff is Associate Online Editor at eCampus News.
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