The social networking site Facebook It goes back to its roots as a social network focused on college. The company Advertise Today launching a new platform for social networks, Campus Facebook, Which provides college students a private place to connect with their classmates, join groups, discover upcoming campus events, get updates from their school administration, and chat with other students from dormitories, clubs, or any other group on campus.

The new platform requires a school email address (@ .edu) to join and will live within a dedicated section of the Facebook app. It can be accessed from a tab at the bottom of the screen or the “More” menu, along with sections such as Watching, Dating, Games, News, Market, and more.

“We wanted to create a product that would make it easy for classmates to meet each other, foster new relationships, and easily start conversations,” explains Charmaine Hong, Campus Product Manager at Facebook. “And we really believe that Campus is more important than ever now. With COVID-19, we see that many students are not returning to campus in the fall. Now, classes are held online and students are trying to interact with this new normal of what looks like communication. In the clubs and organizations you care about, when you are not together. “

On a larger scale, Facebook likely wanted to tackle the “teenager problem,” and Facebook Campus is the answer.

According to reports, Facebook lost its grip on the younger residents, as they did Turn their attention to other social apps, Such as YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram. According to 2018 a study From the Pew Research Center, only 51% of US users between the ages of 13 and 17 said they used Facebook, down from 71% said the same in 2015. Meanwhile, 2019 Survey by Edison Research He noted that Facebook has lost 15 million users since 2017, with the biggest drop coming from the 12-34 year old group.

Facebook Campus is designed to bring these users back by providing a more exclusive place for private networks within Facebook. It is similar, in some ways, to Facebook’s efforts to meet the needs of corporate users with Facebook Workplace. Instead of being new social networking ideas, these platforms take advantage of Facebook’s existing technology, such as news feeds and groups, to offer solutions for a specific demographic.

At launch, Facebook Campus is only available at about 30 colleges and universities across the US (see the full list below), but the company plans to expand over time.

Some colleges have a deeper partnership with Facebook and have also signed up to post updates and news to their students’ Facebook Campus feed. In these cases, the college or university several leaders may encourage students to join the network as well.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

Facebook will market the new app both in-app and offline. Students may be required to join campus with a prompt in the news feed if Facebook has enough data to indicate that they are likely to be a student at a supported college. For example, if a Facebook user visits the Facebook page of the supported university regularly, Facebook may display the Facebook Campus registration prompt. There are also student-led motivational programs where students who increase their enrollment through Facebook Campus swag are rewarded, such as T-shirts and towels.

In addition to requiring an .edu email address, Facebook Campus requires a graduation year – and it shouldn’t take more than five years from the present.

After registering, students create their Facebook Campus profile. While this is linked on the back end to the student’s main Facebook profile, it allows them to add college-specific details that won’t automatically appear anywhere else on Facebook. Here, campus users can add their senior year, dorm, major and high school classes, classes they take, town, Instagram profile and more.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

This information can only be viewed by other Facebook Campus users studying at the same school (unless those users are already blocked on Facebook). It also helps enhance the student directory in Campus, as Facebook Campus users can search for students by name, year, major, or semester, or browse to find classmates to add as friends, including those who are in the same residence or clubs.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

On campus on Facebook, students can also discover and join groups and events for their school. These could be those associated with official student clubs or Greek organizations, those associated with a specific dormitory or even those that only focus on specific interests, such as photography, cooking, writing, hiking, etc. Students can create buy / sell groups or search for roommates groups as well, or anything else that doesn’t violate Facebook terms.

These groups and events basically work the same as those on Facebook itself, except that only students can view, join, and access them.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

Facebook Campus also has its own chat section, which is separated from Facebook and Messenger. These group chats work a little differently, as users do not have to find and invite members. Alternatively, students in a particular group can choose to join the chat associated with them, if they choose.

All updates from your groups, clubs, and events are in our Campus News Feed on Facebook. But unlike what happens on Facebook, students cannot post to their on-campus profile. They can only post to groups, events, or chats.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

Facebook says this decision helps reduce spam and allows users to focus their energy on interacting with the smaller communities they participate in.

A small group of universities have already partnered with Facebook to distribute ads on their Facebook Campus channel for their students to see. However, any school can choose to subscribe to this feature at launch.

At launch, the following universities and colleges will support Facebook Campus:

Brown University Benedict College; California Institute of Technology; College of William and Mary; Duke University; Florida International University; Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University; Johns Hopkins University; Lynn College, University of Lincoln (Pennsylvania); Middlebury College, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Northwestern University; Rice University Sarah Lawrence College Scripps College Smith College Spelman College Austin State University Stephen F. Tufts University at Albany – State University of New York; University of Hartford University of Louisville University of Pennsylvania University of Wisconsin or Claire; Vassar College of Virginia Tech; Wellesley College and Wesleyan University.

While Facebook’s early days saw it target Ivy League schools, the company says these early Facebook Campus schools were picked for diversity. This means student diversity, geography, and school majors (such as liberal arts). It also represents a mixture of public and private schools.

Image credits: The social networking site Facebook

Facebook’s ban, in particular, will not include ads in its feed. But that It will support Facebook ads business. Advertisers won’t be able to target Facebook Campus users specifically, but they can target users by interests – even if the only place the user indicated an interest in them is within Campus. For example, a user who has joined a Facebook Campus cooking club could be targeted by an advertiser looking to reach users interested in cooking.

Hong said Facebook hadn’t tested Facebook Campus before today, even with small groups. Instead, this launch is a new beta test. The company spent time conducting roundtables with universities and with student groups to gain insight into the product and feedback.