Tag you're it: Guidebook brings advanced Facebook-like capabilities to mobile apps for higher ed

Guidebook today announced Interact - the next major enhancement to its industry-leading mobile app platform - designed to bring Facebook-like social engagement to the campus apps employed by higher ed institutions. Interact’s unique combination of features delivers a dynamic social feed and mobile environment that enables student affairs professionals to present a range of tailored content, event information and notifications. It also allows students to connect, share, tag and like posts and photos in one central, easily accessible and constantly updated space. Interact is available immediately on all Guidebook paid plans.

"Improving engagement is one of the most important goals for student affairs professionals today and delivering innovative capabilities like Interact that help them achieve their goals is one of our most important objectives," said Jeff Lewis, co-founder and CEO of Guidebook. "Interact presents an opportunity for student affairs staff to facilitate student engagement, peer-to-peer networking, and help students develop a responsible digital presence with their peers and the greater university."

How It Works

Guidebook’s Interact is an automatically generated activity feed that can be enabled for all paid Guidebook apps. From the moment a student downloads the app, they’re given the opportunity to check-in and start engaging with personalized content. They can send invitations and connect with other students and staff. They can get up-to-the-minute schedules and notifications. They can post, like and comment on photos and participate in timely discussions. Some of the latest additions to Interact include:

• Tagging People - Allows the student and app administrator to grab the attention of specific individuals or start a conversation on a post by tagging specific people. Only those who have checked-into the app can be tagged, so students and staff can remain private if they choose.
• Tagging Events - Makes each activity more valuable by encouraging students to post questions and comments, as well as add events to their personal schedules. Students will be able to form connections with others who participate in similar activities.
• Discussion - Each activity now has a dedicated discussion tab to host relevant comments. If there are concurrent events and individuals want information from both, they can view the discussion tab to learn more or connect with other attendees.
• Adding Photos to Posts - Students and administrators can now directly add photos to Interact posts. This can spark more reactions and is a good way to generate buzz or get more conversations going.
• Tracking Likes and Comments - Allows people to see who liked or commented on a photo or post, allowing students to expand their personal networks. If a post is sponsored, this capability allows sponsoring organizations to actively engage with the student population.
• Post Sponsorship Cards - Maximizes visibility of events sponsored by organizations and companies by creating tailored and timely posts for them. Sponsorship cards can be scheduled in advance and can contain images or links to ensure a clear call to action.

"Interact is a developmental tool that engages students early and throughout the student experience in the way they want to be engaged, via the mobile device," said Chris Trudell, former member of the student affairs staff at Clemson University, and now a member of the Guidebook team. "As part of orientation, transition, and retention processes the entire university staff can demonstrate a campus community with students online, during the summer months before the start of a semester, everyday during the school year, and even after graduation."

Pricing and Availability

Interact is available immediately to all Guidebook users across all paid plans: Plus, Premium and Branded. For more information on Guidebook pricing visit www.guidebook.com/pricing.

About Guidebook

Guidebook has been making it easy for people to create mobile guides for their organizations since 2011. 80% of the top colleges in the United States use Guidebook. So do the world’s most admired companies. Guidebook is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, London, England and Seoul, South Korea. The company is backed by MHS Capital and Mosaic Ventures. Learn more at www.guidebook.com and follow us at @guidebook. For photos and logos visit www.guidebook.com/press.