Mobile Social Network for College

Mobile Social Network for College

An Idea Which Keeps the College Connected

Omkar Bhagat1; Sayali Godbole2; Aishwarya Joshi3

1-3B.E. Students Department of Computer Engineering,

K.C. College of Engineering & Management studies & Research, Kopri, Thane(E)-400 603, India.

Abstract This paper presents an idea for Mobile Social Net-work for Colleges. Social Networks are an important part of everyones life. But with growing number of users and posts on the social network, one can be overwhelmed by the information available. Most of the social networks available today dont allow us to be truly social when it comes to keeping the college connected. This is because the existing social networks target for a wider range of audience from childhood friends to lifelong friends. There is no communication between the college, teach-ers and students. A mobile app for college can bridge this gap and keep the entire college connected.

KeywordsSocial Network; Mobile; Notifications; News Feed

1. INTRODUCTION

   Social Networking Site is any website that enables users to create public profiles within that web site and form relation-ships with other users of same website who access their pro-file. Social networking sites can be used to describe communi-ty-based websites, online discussions, forums, chat rooms and other social spaces online. A social network consists of a representation of each user, his social links, and a variety of additional services. Here in our paper we are presenting a new idea which will bridge the communication gap between the college, teachers and students. The main idea is to have three news feeds instead of having a single news feed.

2. THE PROBLEM WITH EXISTING SOCIAL

   NETWORKS

   There are many social networks available in the market but none of them allow us to be truly social when it comes to Col-lege as a network. Considering some famous networks:

   1. WhatsApp

      WhatsApp is a mobile application which is particularly known as a replacement to SMS. It is a proprietary instant messaging mobile application. Here one to one communication is quick and is one of the key points of the app. But again it doesnt keep everyone connected. The group helps a bit but an important message posted in the group can quickly flow up and one might miss it. Also the group limit is 100. WhatsApp automatically imports contacts from your mobile phone and tells you the how many of your friends are there on it. The ultimate focus of WhatsApp is not to bridge the communication gap between teachers and students.

   2. Facebook

      Facebook is a social network which can be accessed using a browser as well as mobile. But it doesnt allow us to be truly social. You have friends on Facebook but these friends include your family, school friends, college friends, colleagues, and friends youve made in your whole life. And because of the growing nature of social networks, theres a lot going on in the news feed. Facebook uses smart filtering to filter out the posts in the news feed. You dont see everything that you would see because there's a lot to show but only some of it makes it to your news feed.

   3. Google Plus

   Google Plus is a social network similar to Facebook. Its pushed one everyone forcibly even if you dont want it. The problem with Google plus is that everyone thinks its dead. Also you have no reason to switch or use multiple social net-works for the same purpose when you already have Facebook for it.

3. SIMILAR APPLICATIONS

   1. Uversity

      Uversity is basically college or school based social net- working application.It focuses on the communication of col-leges in university.

      It has registration through mobile and push type notifica-tions. Basically it is a social app for college students. It has group messaging feature.It has meaningful connections based on shared activities, majors and interests in students. It has dramatically reduced the amount of work we have to spend on our old facebook pages. But its so easy here to see what hap- pened or to review any post that have been flagged to make sure everything is running smoothly. Students easily get up- dates via sms text, push notification. It has also segment mes- sages based on students major, GPA, enrollment status, counselor group or any other characteristic. It improves class mix by engaging out-of-state students to boost yield by giving support structure they need to succeed.

   2. Hallspot

   This application exhibits same kind of features as of Uver-sity application. Hallspot is very recent app launched in 2013. Hallspot is for use only to actively enrolled students at select-er colleges. This application is limited for a particular university only. Only the students which are part of that university can share, update, explore, save and discover various issues. Hallspot is free to register and use. Registration is quick and easy. Hallspot provides various deals for its users which can be access by using android phone, iPhone or desktop anywhere around the campus.

4. WHY IT SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED

   It should be implemented to bridge the communication gap between college, teachers and students.

   Teachers often post notices, time-tables, exam results on noticeboards. This is inconvenient if many students gather to check the noticeboard. Also many students miss out these im-portant notices.

   Students often create groups on WhatsApp and other social networking platforms to connect with each other. But these small groups divide the class. Also a student who is not a part of the group will miss out on an important piece of informa-tion.

   This is where the app comes in. The app will display a

   str

   TABLE 1. NOTIFICATIONS AND PRIVILEGES

   News Feed

   Students Teachers All

   No – No Normal Post – No – Normal post – No

   Admin Imp Post – Imp Post –

   Notification only to – Notification only to same branch same branch

   students students

   – Normal Post – No –

   Imp Post – Imp Post –

   eam of posts in the news feed. This will keep everyone in-formed of whats going on in the college.

   But then hows that different from existing social media?

   Notification only to

   – same branch

   Teacher teachers

   Notification only to same branch

   teachers and students

   v.Imp Post – v.Imp Post –

   On Facebook you may have a thousand friends in your list.

   And you dont see all that is posted. Its filtered through to reach you according to your interest and interaction. But with this app youll only have a limited number of friends (teachers and students) in your list. Thus your message will be instantly seen by everyone who has installed the app. And then you will be able to get an instant reply on every post.

5. NEWS FEED NOTIFICATIONS & PRIVILEGES Three news feeds is a unique idea. But every unique

   idea has complex problems associated with it, our app is not an exception.

   To deal with these complex problems we have added privi-ledges. These privileges will make sure that only right person receives the right notification. Which means that the possibility of potential spam is eliminated? Nobody wants to receive useless notifications in their notification drawer ever now and then.

   The table below explains how notifications are delivered and to whom. We have considered that a college has different branches. For example, it will be a problem if a second year student receives a notification which was intended for a third year student. The table blow explains how we can eliminate this problem.

   – Notification to all teachers

6. USER INTERFACE

   Notification to all teachers and all students.

   Fig.1. Rough App interface from students perspective.

   The user interface from a normal students perspective shows a local feed and a global feed. In the local feed, a nor-mal student is able to see all the posts by other students.

   The interface above shows how user avatar and status up-dates will be displayed in the news feed.

   There is no share button because the idea is to display every post to everyone, theres no need of sharing to make the post visible to others.

   And theres a Kadak button which is similar to the Facbeook like button or +1 of Google plus. When a user finds an awesome post, he can Kadak it.

7. WORKING

   Roughly the app works as given below. However there are many more improvements and details to be added which ex-plains the exact working of the app without any logical error.

   Given below is an ideal situation –

   1. The App asks you to register your account using your email address.

   2. After registration, youll have to enter the verification code mailed to you.

   3. Once you have verified, youll be asked to create an account and enter your details like name, birthdate, profile picture, etc.

   4. Now that your account is ready, you will need to join a college network.Without a college network you cannot do anything much other than editing your profile.

   5. You can select the college network from the list of available college network. If your college isnt registered you can contact your college or App developers.

      You can choose to join the college network as a teacher or as student. But you will not get the privileges unless the admin approves your join request by verifying your identity.

   6. After selecting your college from list of college networks, you will need to wait for college administrator to approve your request of join network. He may be a student admin or a faculty member.

   7. If your request is approved, you wil be a part of the college network.

   8. Once you join the network, you can see two news feeds, a local news feed and a global news feed.

   9. Whatever you post in the local news feed will be shared with your local group (which is student if you are a student). And whatever you post in the global news feed will be seen by everyone (that is teachers as well as students).

1. IMPLEMENTATION

   1. Front Page

      Fig.2. Log In Page

      Fig.3. Enter User Information

      Fig.4. Enter Users Email ID

   2. Registration Process

      Fig.5. User Registration Successful

      Fig.6. User Account Created

   3. Database Connectivity

      Fig.7. Database Connectivity

   4. News Feed

Fig.8 Rough News Feed Design

CONCLUSION

Even though there are similar applications in market,the idea of news feed is one of its kind.This application will be definitely useful to keep everyone informed about important notices & activities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work is part of Graduation project done by students of Computer Engineering. We thank everyone who supported & motivated us. And special thanks to our guide Prof. Amarja Adgaonkar.

REFERENCES

1. http://champions.uoregon.edu/hallspot-new-social-media-site- college-students-set-launch-oregn

2. Uversity Application: http://www.uversity.com/

3. http://www.csd.uoc.gr/~hy439/labs/hy539_android_software_g uide.pdf

4. https://cloud.google.com/appengine/

5. http://www.whatsapp.com/

6. Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11.

7. Social paper

   http://www.schoolofed.nova.edu/cms/itde/students_scholarship/ EDD6000/Cecconi/Documents/Pdf_8012/A3_Cecconi.pdf

8. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.kdnsoft.androi d.blendcollage.free&hl=en

9. http://blog.mention.com/the-5-best-front-end-developer- tools/

10. http://mlkday.gov/plan/library/communications/communicating. php