CollegeOnly isn’t reinventing the wheel with their new social network, instead they’ve went back to the good old days of Facebook when only College students with a valid college email address could join the network.
The networks founder told Mashable that he started the network because as Facebook continues to grow:
“College students are less likely to upload photos or post what they are up to with parents and potential employers looking on.”
How protected is the site? Even the sites founder is not allowed to join outside of being able to moderate the site and checking out the success of features added to the network.
The site makes this promise to students:
“Our site is the only one that is free from parents, potential employers, and other folks that shouldn’t see what you are up to on a Saturday night or at any given point during the day.”
Another change for the site from the Facebook of old is the fact that once a user joins they are automatically connected to everyone else at their school and people must be blocked if you don’t want them on your list.
The sites biggest achievement so far? According to BrandChannel:
“CollegeOnly boasts impressive VC backing: besides $1.15 million from Thiel, its backers include SoftBank Capital, FirstMark Capital and angel investors, including Clickable founder David Kidder.”
Site Founder Josh Weinstein also told BrandChannel, that he knows his odds of reaching Facebook type success are slim, however the site is geared more towards “exclusivity” than mass appeal.
That “exclusivity” may help the site attract advertisers as they target a very specific audience to their site. With Facebook advertisers can target certain user demographics, however the site is diluted with an all encompassing atmosphere that can put users into a different mindset when viewing ads, leaving them more worried about what mom or the boss will think of their page, while focusing less on the college atmosphere they are living in their real lives. Leave a student in the college mindset and CollegeOnly may be able to attract advertisers looking to target college students who are in a “college state of mind.”
For everyone interested you may have to wait a little while for your college to be included, the site is only open to Princeton, Yale and Cornell at this time.
