Her Campus was lucky enough to get all the info you need about Amherst’s newest app, Meetum! Co-Creator Louie Reed ’16 answered all our questions, check it out!
1) What inspired Meetum? What are some of the problems you are hoping it will solve? Meetum was directly inspired by the sit-in in the fall and the Amherst Uprising movement. The pain that so many of our classmates were going through really rattled us. It was clear that a number of students felt extremely isolated, lonely, and like they didn’t have nearly as many friends as they thought they were going to have when they got to Amherst. So after the sit-in we started thinking of things we could do to help which led to the idea for Meetum. Meetum was made with the purpose in mind of giving students a platform to easily see the wide variety of opportunities on campus to meet new friends. We’re hoping that people use Meetum to get out there, go to some new events, invite others to things they are doing, and expand their network of friends. Also, we know that as Amherst students we don’t have much free time in a day so we hope that Meetum helps solve the problem of students not having the time to figure out what’s happening on campus everyday. 2) You just launched last week, what have been some of the biggest successes so far? Our biggest success so far has really been the amazing buy in from the student body. From the day we launched students immediately hopped on board and started using Meetum, posting and attending meetums from all across the spectrum. From study sessions, to plays, to Mario kart tournaments, to club meetings. It really speaks to how much all Amherst students want to change the culture to one of complete inclusivity. 3) What have been some of the biggest challenges? We have a lot of really dope ideas for making the app better but implementing them all takes time. So we constantly have to decide which updates to focus on first, which are more crucial, and what people are going to enjoy the most. So it can be hard seeing Meetum so far in the future in our heads but not being able to bring that into the present right away for the student body. 4) What do you want the Amherst student body to know about Meetum? We want to encourage the student body to use Meetum to get out of their comfort zone. Use it to meet new friends and do things that maybe you wouldn’t have even known about before seeing it on Meetum. Also that Meetum is constantly evolving so new updates get pushed through regularly. So be sure to check back every day to see what’s new. 5) What are you plans for the app longterm? Well our next major step for Meetum is building it out for the Amherst alumni network. We’ve met with the alumni department and are working on figuring out the best way to do that. We’re thinking of creating Meetum networks by geographic location like Amherst NYC, Amherst Boston, Amherst Bay Area, etc. that all Amherst alum can tap into and keep their Amherst experience going long after college.
Make sure to go to www.download.meetum.io and get the app!