Opportunity- Students in college are struggling to develop friendships early in their academic year because there is not a third party bridge that facilitates meeting platonic friends. Based off of my experience, interviews, and knowledge, this opportunity mainly exists among incoming freshman and transfer students.
Solution: Application, similar to a dating app, that focuses on linking interests, hobbies, majors, clubs, etc.
Product- To fix this problem, a friendship app similar to that of a dating app, can help incoming freshman and transfer students feel more comfortable going into a new environment. Meeting new friends before even setting foot on campus can make a scary large campus, smaller. This can also help with returning students that are not meeting friends in class or clubs. Other students may be a part of the target audience, however, just like those that recently end a relationship, students leaving their home to go to a new school will be the most eager for instant gratification.
Applications are hard to start up and make popular immediatly it would take a lot of advertising and time to maybe catch. You wouldn't see results for a long time. A program that works with the school with kids coming through orientation may be better just because it is simpler to start up and get running.
ReplyDeleteWhen first starting an app, you must make it well known for it to obtain many downloads and become popular. Getting an app to that point can take a while perhaps what you could do is have some sort of showcase for this app with many students attending to get it well known and the students who attend will be able to pass the information on this matter to their friends to get the app more attention.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I can see how an application, similar to a dating application, would be the way to go. However, just like dating application, there are many cons. Students would be more at risk for being cat fished and stalked, making them more vulnerable to predators. I realize these are not your intentions but not everyone would have the same intentions as you.
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