By Nancy Sanchez-Diaz
Entertainment Editor
The Campus Bubble service is now available to students for the spring semester. The private network is exclusive to the FDU community, and helps students browse and join groups of interest.
The new social network creates a “bubble” for the FDU community, allowing students to stay connected virtually with friends, classmates, clubs and other organizations on campus.
“Whether it’s learning about a new event on campus, or learning a (club or organization) president’s name — I am looking for my clubs and organizations to use (Campus Bubble) to get their events out,” Rashard Mills, assistant director of student life operations, told The Equinox via a Zoom interview.
“This is another avenue to advertise and engage our students, so I am looking forward to seeing what they do creatively.”
Campus Bubble, based in Atlanta, is part of the StudentBridge family of products, according to the Campus Bubble website. The service was created to adapt to students’ changing habits and preferences, focusing on technology to provide personalized experiences for colleges and their students.
While Campus Bubble has partnered with over five other universities, including Point University, Butler University and Indiana State University, FDU is the first to roll out the Campus Bubble app.
One of Bubble’s special features, according to Mills, is the notification alerts. As events or posts are made, students immediately get a notification on their phone.
The service also includes a calendar feature, which allows event organizers to make the posts more interactive through the use of pictures or videos. Students can RSVP to these events, share them with friends and check Zoom links, according to the FDU website.
“We wanted a platform that would be inclusive to our community and mutually exclusive. We wanted to make sure we included everyone from the president, to the enrollment service manager. This is something that only the FDU community can be a part of, which is what makes it so special,” Mills said.
Another important feature to highlight is the directory, which helps students to get in touch with anyone in the FDU community.
“Right now everyone might not know the President’s email, and you might have to go through someone to get to someone that knows his email. Campus Bubble cuts off the middleman, and gives students the ability to reach whoever they want directly,” Mills said.
Students can expect to see Bubble-related informational sessions and programs in the future, according to Mills.
“There will be a lot of high-class prizes,” Mills continued.
For the time being, Mills encourages everyone to sign up for the platform, as he believes that Campus Bubble has the potential to become something bigger than FDU.
“I think this app has the capacity to become as big as Instagram, maybe even Facebook. It has the potential to be right next to it,” Mills said. “Right now it’s only accessible to our college. Once it expands, other colleges will be able to join. But we get to be the pioneers of it.”
Facebook, as the story goes, was originally developed for use by Harvard College by Mark Zuckerberg, his roommates and other students.
Students can sign up with their credentials here.
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Art by Nancy Sanchez-Diaz
