TikTok announced an expansion of its student connection options in-stream, which will provide more ways for verified students of U.S. college campuses to stay in touch with the latest trends among alumni, as well as engage with local events and opportunities.
Utilizing TikTok’s Campus Verification feature, which enables students to verify their student status via third-party provider Unidays, TikTok’s new Campus Hub display will showcase college group chats and content feeds, which are designed to help college students stay connected to campus communities.
As explained by TikTok: “Students from more than 6,000 US universities can verify their status and link their campus directly to their TikTok profile. Once verified, they gain access to a dedicated campus space with new features tailored specifically for student communities.”
TikTok’s college groups will enable campus-verified students to create and join group chats with up to 300 classmates, while its college feed option will provide students with a personalized feed that surface content posted by verified students and content related to their university.
It could be a handy option, both to encourage engagement within TikTok, and to facilitate more community-building engagement options.
The risk, however, is that non-students can infiltrate these groups, and end up targeting students within social apps.
That’s what’s happened with other college-aligned social media group chat functions, including Facebook Campus, YikYak and more.
Indeed, Meta was forced to shut Facebook Campus just two years after launch, due to rising concerns around non-students gaining access. The use of third-party verification of student ID could assist with this.
However, if TikTok can avoid those troubles, this could be another way to cement the app as a foundational connection tool for many students, and provide a handy connective feed for student engagement.
