Social networking app launches at USC

These days it seems there’s always something new and exciting in social media and technology, be it iPads or e-books. The latest noteworthy advancement is a new social networking application for smartphone users, ntro.

Busy bees · The ntro staff has made its presence known at USC by setting up tents, handing out promotions, sending dancing, life-sized bees all over campus and recently, covering students’ bike seats with yellow seat covers. - Rohan Aurora | Daily Trojan

The cool part? Ntro is in the midst of its launch and it’s being exclusively offered at USC.

On Aug. 19, the California-based company nProgress Inc. launched this social discovery app to help make connections with new friends through shared interests. At a university as large as USC, it can be difficult to find your niche and that’s where ntro steps in.

“On a college campus like USC, you literally walk by hundreds of people every day,” said Josh Resnick, founder and CEO of nProgress Inc. “Ntro helps you discover … shared interests and connect over them. You can use the app to find study partners, sports and workout partners, or even just to discover other people who share your love of marathon running, cult zombie films or whatever your interests might be.”

Still not quite sure what we’re talking about? If you saw the dancing bees in McCarthy Quad, the In-N-Out truck generously offering hundreds of burgers, Sprinkles cupcakes up for grabs and so forth then you’ve come across ntro. If you’ve crossed paths with one of these promotions or you’ve noticed your friends are increasingly more interested in their smartphones, there’s a reason for it. Ntro’s presence can evidently be felt everywhere around campus.

Now that you’re up to speed, the app is currently available for free download to USC students using iPhone or Android handsets. All you need is a valid .edu email to register. You can also integrate the app with Facebook to sync your interests more efficiently.

USC caught the eye of ntro with its massive size and diverse student body. With more than 30,000 students attending USC and this year’s freshman class featuring the highest international percentage to date, Resnick and the ntro team couldn’t ignore the opportunity.

“We selected USC as our first campus to launch ntro because the culturally diverse student body represents our ideal user,” Resnick said.

Ntro started when two business partners, Resnick and Trey Watkins — both working in the video game industry at the time — decided to make use of smartphone features to ask questions about their interests and the interests of those around them to form new relationships.

“There are three features that make ntro a unique app,” Resnick said. “It runs in the background and notifies you when someone nearby shares the same interests, [it] offers high flexibility to the users to control their privacy settings and it was designed specifically with students in mind, with features like forming study groups and finding a workout partner.”

Ntro fosters a secure, gated community of students, maintaining privacy in the pursuit of common interests.

The ntro student group toolkit is another prime feature of the application. It gives users the ability to promote and recruit new members for student groups through use of the newsfeed to inform other ntro users.

“If there is a basketball event organized, all the ntro users with basketball as a mutual interest will be notified about the event,” Resnick said.

Ntro also plans on launching a “heat map” feature that will allow users to discover local hot spots based on their interests, Resnick said.

There’s also the option of Facebook integration, which can sync your interests more quickly.

“We will be rolling this app to the top 50 schools in the country over the coming year,” said Resnick. “And by 2012, we expect it to be everywhere.”

Correction: A previous version of this article states ntro would launch at UC Berkeley next week. The application has in fact already been launched at the UC Berkeley campus.