New app shows students ‘Who is Going out’

By Sarah, Knepp, For The Miami Student

Oxford is widely known for its bustling nightlife. On any given night, there are a number of things to do, from house parties, to bars and everything in between.

Word of mouth and even just knowing the right people have traditionally been the best ways to make plans, but that could change with the simple download of a social media app.

WiGo (Who is Going out) is trying to change the way students make their plans. Developed by Ben Kaplan during his freshman year at the College of Holy Cross, WiGo lets college students know about an event taking place on their campus: where it is, and who in the area will be attending, regardless of whether the user is connected with the other people linked in to the app.

People can create events or join other events that are created on WiGo. They can also chat with each other on the app, allowing students to connect with each other.

WiGo has been taking off at various colleges across the country, such as Boston University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. However, in order for a college and its area and events to be recognized by WiGo, 100 students from a particular college need to download the app and log in using their student email address and link their WiGo account to their Facebook.

Miami currently has a WiGo presence, but not a strong one.

"There are a decent amount of people that have WiGo, but not many are using it to say where they are going on any given night," junior Erin Bell said.

A few people post their whereabouts, but not many post consistently enough for WiGo to really be the way Miami students learn about where their peers are going. Because of this, WiGo brings about mixed reactions from students on this campus.

"I think it would be really cool if people used it more," Bell said. "It would make the app a lot better here and it would be nice to know about various different places to go and who all is going there."

Some students, however, feel differently.

"I don't think it's really necessary," sophomore Emily Shindler said. "I feel like too many people would plug in the wrong information, and most people wouldn't even need it in the first place."

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WiGo seems to have the potential to be a good thing at Miami, Bell said. It can allow students to meet people they otherwise would not and present a multitude of things to do. It simply needs to reach a greater audience.

"More people just need to know about it," Bell said. "Once more people find out about it, they will download it and use it, and then it will be something that is used more regularly by a lot of people."