Who would have thought that staying in contact with your friends would be the hardest part of college? Whether you and the crew are going on vacations, starting up internships, or just planning to relax for three months straight this summer, it can be almost too easy to go M.I.A. as you all scatter to different cities and time zones. But, even if you always have your phone on “Do Not Disturb” and rarely look at your messages, there’s an app that so many of us still check (multiple times) every day: TikTok. A quick scroll through the app can be the easiest way to stay up to date on everything from politics to pop culture. Now, it can also help you stay connected with your university community throughout summer break — and into the semesters ahead
Officially launched on April 30, the TikTok Campus Hub is an expansion of TikTok’s Campus Verification, which launched last fall, giving college students a way to authenticate their university enrollment and connect with other verified students. Through TikTok’s partnership with UNiDAYS — a leading student verification platform — students at more than 6,000 U.S. colleges can verify their student status, add their campus to their TikTok profiles, and interact with the Campus Hub.Â
From the new hub, you can browse your school’s page and access new features built specifically for college communities, such as College Feed, which surfaces a mix of content posted by fellow verified students and content related to your school. That way, students can stay informed about all things campus life, happenings with their classmates, and school updates.
However, if you are looking for direct communication, then the Campus Groups feature has you covered. Campus Groups allows students to create and join group chats of up to as many as 300 classmates. These groups are only accessible to verified students, making it easy to plan reunions and other large events (think everything from Greek life mixers to chem lab study sessions) or simply stay in the know of what’s going on. With the hub launching just as classes are coming to a close, this feature will be particularly useful as a way to stay in touch with friends over the summer, as well as reconnecting once the new school year starts up — because what’s the glue holding so many college friendships together? The funny TikToks we send to each other, of course.Â