WiGo is a new way to socialize for college students. The idea itself is very creative and unique. Ben Kaplan the founder of the app (who is currently 23) was looking for an easy way to find parties and plans to go out and socialize, and created the app that he launched at his college of Holy Cross. The idea was popular when he launched it and was able to draw more than half of his school's population. The app took off from there, and within the first several weeks of launch the app drew more than 50,000 users.
Currently, WiGo has more than $14 million dollars invested it by notable investors such as Kayak founder Paul English.
Here is a video of Kaplan explaining the appeal of his app and his decision to drop out of college to pursue his idea.
The appeal of WiGo is that it is a social network, which encourages people to be truly social and go out and connect with other users. Whereas Facebook and Twitter have larger audiences that people may not wish to advertise their location to and meet in person, WiGo focuses on connecting people for real social experiences that are also college students. According to the website, social media sites don't answer two fundamental questions lingering on a college students mind: who is going out and where are they going.
There are safety features in place to ensure that all users are college students. Sign up requires an .edu email address, and the company has focused development and checks to see who is using the site. The company runs frequent reports on users who are blocked by other users, and if they are a repeat offender they are blacklisted.
The marketing strategy behind the app is simply brilliant. In order for WiGo to be available to a certain college it has to be "unlocked". In order for a school to be unlocked at least 5% of the student body must download the app. No student wants to use a social network that no one else is using. By creating this lock feature it ensures that the market it becomes available to it will truly use it and encourage users to recruit more students. WiGo also employs ambassadors to promote the app at schools and recruit more users.
Citations:
http://www.businessinsider.com/14-million-startup-wigo-is-going-crazy-2015-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mottKSXLbXo
http://college.usatoday.com/2014/10/27/is-wigo-revolutionizing-the-way-college-students-socialize/
Questions:
1. How likely would you be to use this app if our school was unlocked?
2. What do you believe is the appeal of having a network dedicated exclusively to going out?
3. What potential problems could you see occurring down the road for the app?
4. How is this app useful and relevant in today's college culture?
