Startup app Friendsy wants to put the college social scene online by connecting students from different social circles.
Developed by Princeton seniors Michael Pinsky and Vaidhy Murti, this social application has already raised over $200,000 from Princeton University and New York angel investors, and is being used by over 25,000 students on 1,600 college campuses.
Unlike other popular meet-up apps, Friendsy operates on a private network and only allows users with an email account ending in ‘.edu’ to register – just as Facebook did in their early days.
This means each user is a verified student, and the chances of being matched with a spam bot are reduced.
Users can personalise their Friendsy experience through a variety of filters – such as school, gender, year, major, group – and can choose how they want to interact with another profile, whether for friends, dating or hook-up.
Founder Michael Pinsky said: “College students get stuck. They want to branch out, but it can be surprisingly difficult to meet new people on campus.”
The anonymous chat aspect of apps like Yik Yak is integrated into Friendsy with the “Murmurs” feature, which is frequently monitored to only include positive comments.
And the “ChitChat” feature connects two students who are currently online to create an instant connection by asking icebreaker questions, and giving the users the option to reveal their identities.
However with mobile monetisation in the news after the launch of Tinder Plus, the creators of Friendsy do not have any immediate plans to monetise their app, but aim to keep a close eye on their competitors.