It is my belief that there is an unmet need in regards to making friends with common interests in the college setting. The current way most college students make friends is through dorms, class, greek life, and clubs. However, many students struggle to make initiating moves to converse during the start of college term. Also, when starting college, most students are forced to take Gen Eds, which include a mix of different majors. This makes it so that people with similar interests, majors, and hobbies have a harder time connecting until they are upperclassmen. There currently lacks an application that helps facilitate this and serves as the bridge to connecting people who have common interests, in a noncommittal way. As a college student, I am 75% sure this opportunity exists.
#1:
Q: Upon coming to college, did you find it difficult to make friends at the start?
A: yes
Q: Have you ever felt lonely in college, feeling that you wish you had a new friend?
A: yes
Q: If yes to #2, what, if anything, did you do to solve this?
A: Nothing really tried to be friendly to people but it’s awkward talking to people in lecture halls
Q: Do you prefer to make friends with similar interests, or those with different interests?
A: Both! I think there should be some degree of similarity but I also like to have friends who would introduce me to new things
Q: How often do you feel that you meet people with your same interests/major?
A: I think generally I have a lot of political science and law friends just because those are the groups I interact with the most
Q: Where do you mainly meet those with your same interests/major? Are you satisfied with your current way of meeting people with your same interests/major?
A: Probably just from clubs but I feel like I don’t meet a very diverse Group of people that way
Q: How do you typically meet friends in college?
A: In class or in similar activities
Q: What apps do you mainly use?
A: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, & Pinterest
#2:
Q: Upon coming to college, did you find it difficult to make friends at the start?
A: yeah, it was a nightmare
Q: Have you ever felt lonely in college, feeling that you wish you had a new friend?
A: not quite
Q: Do you prefer to make friends with similar interests, or those with different interests?
A: Different interests mean more things to talk about!
Q: How often do you feel that you meet people with your same interests/major?
A: Not that often, but then again again my interests are messed up
Q: Where do you mainly meet those with your same interests/major? Are you satisfied with your current way of meeting people with your same interests/major?
A: Not really
Q: How do you typically meet friends in college?
A: Clubs and classes
Q: What apps do you mainly use?
A: Instagram and Snapchat
#3:
Q: Upon coming to college, did you find it difficult to make friends at the start?
A: Not really, I joined an organization right away, and it was pretty tight-knit
Q: Have you ever felt lonely in college, feeling that you wish you had a new friend?
A: Of course, everyone has
Q: If yes to #2, what, if anything, did you do to solve this?
A: Nothing really. I was just kind of down on myself. Got some sleep, spent some time alone, felt better.
Q: Do you prefer to make friends with similar interests, or those with different interests?
A: No preference!
Q: How often do you feel that you meet people with your same interests/major?
A: Meet people? All the time because we share classes.
Q: Where do you mainly meet those with your same interests/major? Are you satisfied with your current way of meeting people with your same interests/major?
A: Student orgs and classes; no
Q: How do you typically meet friends in college?
A: Student orgs or mutual friends
Q: What apps do you mainly use?
A: Twitter, Facebook, & Snapchat
#4:
1. Upon coming to college, did you find it difficult to make friends at the start?
Yes
2. Have you ever felt lonely in college, feeling that you wish you had a new friend?
Yes
3. If yes to #2, what, if anything, did you do to solve this?
Get more involved with clubs
4. Do you prefer to make friends with similar interests, or those with different interests?
Some of both
5. How often do you feel that you meet people with your same interests/major?
Pretty often
5. Where do you mainly meet those with your same interests/major? Are you satisfied with your current way of meeting people with your same interests/major?
In class
6. How do you typically meet friends in college?
Clubs
7. What apps do you mainly use?
Instagram, Facebook & Snapchat
#5:
1. Upon coming to college, did you find it difficult to make friends at the start?
Yes
2. Have you ever felt lonely in college, feeling that you wish you had a new friend?
Yes
3. If yes to #2, what, if anything, did you do to solve this?
Made friends in classes but always felt still felt lonely.
4. Do you prefer to make friends with similar interests, or those with different interests?
Similar
5. How often do you feel that you meet people with your same interests/major?
Not often
5. Where do you mainly meet those with your same interests/major? Are you satisfied with your current way of meeting people with your same interests/major?
Class and work
6. How do you typically meet friends in college?
Class
7. What apps do you mainly use?
Instagram & Snapchat
I felt that to get a better understanding, it was important to interview as many people as I could. Overall, I feel that there remains an unmet need for alternative forms of socialization. Loneliness is a severe issue college students face. According to CBC news, more than 66% of university students surveyed reported feeling “very lonely” in the past year (Beaudette 2016). This was reflected in my interviews. I do, however, know now that friendships aren’t always sought after based on major, so it’s important to note that mutual interest should be considered, but not highlighted. There certainly is a trade-off between adapting and staying firm, but adaptation to market is crucial to appealing to the audience.
If you could create a friendship finder app or like a meeting app, or group at the University, I think a lot of freshmen would benefit from it. There is definitely a steady stream of customers in your target demographic, and UF is so big that it's sometimes hard to find people you click with when there's so many things going on! I myself agree with this; I'm a transfer student and it was a bit challenging finding people in my first few months at UF. Whatever you do with theses consumer interviews will bring a lot of insight into what kind of product can be developed for this.
ReplyDeleteYour belief is something that does seem to happen a lot in colleges and if you were to provide a service to make it easier to make friends in college without making it appear only for lonely people but to other people who are thinking of expanding their friendship circles. If this works then students here will be able to make newer friends besides from classrooms and clubs.
ReplyDeleteThe Opportunity that you've identified I think is one almost everyone college freshmen has had, meaning that there is especially merit to it. College socializing either is everything you want it to be or nowhere close enough to it. Solutions aren't very accommodating to those that feel lonely: being that they'd just have to go out and be more extroverted; there really does seem to be an opportunity there.
ReplyDelete