Not only is Fitzgerald an app producer, but he’s also a luck man, having earned the nickname “The Light Luck” after his father. Both he and his father entered their freshman year at FSU in the fall of 2013—the same time as when the FSU football team won the national championship. Maybe he can bring FSU some much-needed “luck!”
Name: Fitzgerald D. Light Jr.
Year: Alumni
Age: 19
Hometown: Jacksonville
Photo By: Nicholas Kielbasa
Her Campus (HC): So, you invented an app. Tell me about it.
Fitzgerald D. Light Jr. (FL): The application is called Tweb. And what it is is a centralized platform for students to use. It allows students to share information with the entire campus with just one post; so [there’s] no need to try to create posts on Instagram, Twitter or trying to post in different Facebook groups. It’s a resource for students to go to and find different events going on, activities, nightlife events and also if you have a question or even an item for sale.
HC: It’s focused on your personal campus?
FL: Yeah, so each campus would have their own separate Twebs, which is basically a timeline. The cool part begins once it expands to a certain amount of campuses: say you’re a student going to Florida State and you go back home to wherever you may be you’ll be able to tap into that college’s Tweb and see what’s happening on their campus.
HC: That’s actually pretty cool.
FL: Yeah, that’s the interesting part. That’s a couple months down the line after I test it out on FSU’s campus and start doing some tweaks to it.
HC: What sparked the idea that made you want to create this app?
FL: I was sitting at home on a Friday night and I was trying to find out what was going on. UNF is right down the road from where I live and we also have Jacksonville University. I was trying to go through various Facebook pages, Instagram and Twitter and I came up with nothing. I realized it should be way easier trying to find out different events especially since I’m a college student. I guess that sparked the idea to try to create that centralized location.
HC: That makes sense. I’ve been there in that situation too, and you’re texting friends, “Do you know what’s happening?” “Nooo.” It’s like, “Okay, cool, I’ll just stay at home then.”
FL: Exactly. And then especially in Jacksonville I guess one of the big things is the clubs and sometimes you don’t want to go there—you want to hang out in the college atmosphere.
HC: And see what’s going on there! That’s so true. How long did it take for you to get this started?
FL: I got the idea probably a year ago, but you know it’s one of those ideas where you say, “Oh that would be a good idea,” but you don’t actually follow through with it. I was sitting in class one day and my professor was talking about how easy it is to make a company, but a lot of people don’t take that initiative step and that’s what makes the difference between a billionaire and an average individual. So, I started thinking about actually taking that step in creating the idea. I looked into it, how much it would cost to get an app developed and, surprisingly, it’s not that hard to raise money. Once I started raising money, I thought I should really do this and took [that] step in October when development started. I submitted the app to Apple and now I’m just waiting to hear back.
HC: So I might be scrolling down the app store and I see your name?
FL: Yeah, you’ll be scrolling and you’ll see Tweb. It’s just the first version, like when Facebook first started, it wasn’t as it is now.
HC: Yeah, it wasn’t popping!
FL: *Laughs* It was generic, but it had the value, so that’s what I’m hoping… that students can see the value in it beyond the flaws that it may have like appearance-wise. As long as the value is there and it’s serving its need, then I can get it to the “Facebook status.”
HC: Did you have any help during this process?
FL: Yes, as of right now, I have a partner—her name is Laura. Friends in my fraternity have also helped with brainstorming and marketing ideas.
Photo By: Nicholas Kielbasa
Tweb can be downloaded in the app store. If you get it now you can be all hipster and say you got it before it was a big deal.