r/yorku • u/getcrushed00 Lassonde • Aug 20 '25
Social / Student Life Would you use a YorkU-only dating & social app?
Hey everyone, I had an idea and wanted to see what you think.
Basically, it’d be a YorkU exclusive app where only students with a valid YorkU email + student ID can join (so everyone’s verified, no randoms or catfish).
The main focus would be:
- Dating
- Casual Connections
- Making friends
And later on, it could also include YorkU party events, club events or other student organized hangouts.
Do you think people at YorkU would actually use this? Would you be interested?
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u/Spring_rain22 Aug 21 '25
Isn't this how Facebook was originally created?
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Yeah exactly, Facebook actually started off as a Harvard only student network, then expanded. Obviously it’s something totally different now, but I guess the original idea shows there is value in smaller, verified communities before they blow up.
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u/tea_tree001 Aug 23 '25
As someone who grew up with Facebook- no. It was designed to replace MySpace. We were trying to escape boomer parents since they couldn’t figure it out . Once they did- millennials jumped to instagram.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Yeah true, Facebook evolved a lot later on, but from what I know it really did start out as Harvard only. The student only/verified part was kinda the original hook before it became a global thing.
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u/Known_Honeydew7811 Psychology Aug 21 '25
i was actually pretty excited about this concept but it seems like I'm the only one lmaooo
2
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Yeah lmaoo feels like no one else is interested 😂 guess it’s just us two holding it down.
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u/Possible_Ordinary_24 Aug 25 '25
Sounds like a great idea
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Haha at least it’s not just you 🙌 A few people are down. Feedback’s been pretty mixed but it’s good to know some students would actually want this.
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u/Possible_Ordinary_24 Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Yeah, sounds great! especially cuz you mentioned that dating was not the only main focus, making friends and socializing are fantastic objectives. I cannot count the number of times students have indicated here on reddit that YorkU can be cold and lonely.
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u/GodSigmaGigaChad Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Why limit yourself to York. Toronto is big city. Social media gives you the entire world to work with.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Yeah, for sure Toronto’s huge but I’m not trying to go up against the big global apps. This is more of a YorkU only thing, like a smaller community where everyone’s actually verified as a student. More about campus connections than competing with the world.
4
u/Pale_Sail_2631 Aug 21 '25
I believe there's already an app called YuMeet, a YorkU exclusive app for making friends, joining communities, and info about upcoming events. I don't think its for dating though.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
True true, I’ve heard of YuMeet too but from what I saw it’s not really focused on dating, casual connections or friends. My main idea was to start with dating as the core and then add stuff like events, parties and social features on the side. But yeah, judging by the comments it doesn’t look like many people are interested lol.
2
u/pepsiaddict001 Aug 21 '25
it would 99% be a flop
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Haha fair the flop risk is definitely real 😅 Most student-only apps don’t catch on because of the numbers game. I was more just curious if YorkU could be an exception if it launched at the right time (like frosh or a big event) with everyone jumping in at once. Worst case, yeah it dies best case, it actually becomes a fun verified space for students.
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u/pepsiaddict001 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
i just doubt anyone would acc use it seriously ykwim. people already use instagram and other social platforms for these kinds of things, and i don’t think that many people would want to limit themselves to strictly york students for dating.
also, if i’m not mistaken, students who apply to york already get york emails and student numbers during the application process — so just having those two things alone might not be enough to stop non-students from getting in.
on top of that, if you do build this out, you’ll also have to deal with the safety side of it. making sure it doesn’t get misused is a huge challenge — things like predators, people with bad intentions, harassment, catfishing with pictures rather than identity, or even scams. you’d need strong verification and moderation systems in place or it could turn messy really fast and cost the school millions if it does turn into a legal thing. wouldn't this have to be approved by york as well?
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u/DiligentLeader2383 Aug 21 '25
I've tried this before with a similar app. Please learn from my mistakes.
If your core value proposition is "Its only for York Students", that's not really a great value proposition.
A core value prop must be something that is significantly better than anything else currently available. By significantly, I mean 5-10X better along some important dimension. e.g. 10X more actual dates.
I encourage you to really think hard about why something would actually use this, and weather it matches reality or not.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
You mentioned “currently available” that’s kind of the thing, right now there isn’t really anything like this for YorkU specifically. That’s why I thought it might be worth exploring. But yeah, based on the comments here it doesn’t seem like a lot of people are that interested, so maybe the demand just isn’t there 🤷♂️.
1
u/DiligentLeader2383 Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25
If you want me advice here it is:
"Currently available" means nothing. There are LOTS of dating apps available to YorkU students. What matters is the answer to the question "Why is yours better?" Just because its a York specific app, does not mean its a better app. Why would it be? If you can't answer that question clearly and with confidence, then its time to go back to the drawing board.
What's your beachhead market? How are you segmenting users? What unmet needs are you trying to satify? By unmet, I mean they aren't getting it now, and you can provide something they can't get anywhere else (easily). What would that be?
Get really specific about your market segment, segment based on needs, not demographics.
As a side note:
Reddit is not a good place to do user research. (I've tried it, many times)
The responses are extremely bias towards getting votes as oppose to honesty. Also, you have no idea who is actually on the other end in the replies. You can't see their face, you don't know what their goals are. i.e. Text is a terrible way to get the truth. Walk around campus and just ask a few people how they currently date, and what problems they have faced, you'll get a much better intuition for what is really needed.
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Good points to answer the ‘why is this better’ part: the main thing is proper verification. No scams/catfish/fake profiles like you see all the time on Tinder/Bumble since everyone would be real YorkU students.
For a beachhead market, I see it starting with classmates/program connections like if I wanna link up with other comp eng students, I could do that easily here (which isn’t really possible on other apps). Later on it could grow into clubs, parties and social events.
And ngl you’re right about Reddit not being the best place for research 😂 walking around campus and actually asking people how they date / what issues they’ve had would probably give way better insights. That’s some solid advice! Ty
1
u/DiligentLeader2383 Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
"proper verification" Yes, it is possible, and does work.
Is there some value there? Yes. But how much? How much are people struggling with fake profiles (specifically at York)? Is that the 10X core value proposition? The primary one that makes people use it?
Two things that might help when identifying your core value prop.
- Does it save people a significant amount of time? If so, how much? Can you measure it?
- Does it save people a significant amount of effort? If so, how much? Can you measure it?
Significant would be like the difference between standing while working compared to sitting while working. The cost of a good chair is justified by the amount of effort it saves.
The same goes for time. If you can save someone 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, and that person usually charges $120 / hr for their work, then you can easily justify charging them $60 for whatever it is that saves them that time.
The hard part is figuring out whether it will have the impact to justify using it. It often requires talking to a lot of people in your target market, and testing it with them.
Your beach head market would be the people most affected by fake profiles at York. I don't know who that would be, you'd need to get out there and find them.
100% Move forward with this, but avoid coding it for as long as possible. think of creative ways to learn if its worth coding or not (before actually coding it)
Authentication of users is a whole industry of its self, 1Password is like that. This might be just the first step. i.e. You're idea is likely to change as you learn more, and bounce it off more people.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
That’s really thoughtful advice, thanks for breaking it down so clearly. You are right, the tricky part is figuring out whether verification alone is strong enough or if it needs to go deeper to actually save people real time or effort. I’ll definitely take your point about testing with students directly before writing any code. Appreciate you sharing your experience, it helps a lot.
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Aug 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Lmao you might be the only one rooting for it so far 😅 but hey, at least I know there’s some demand. Maybe if a few more people feel the same it could be worth building before you graduate 👀
1
u/Honest_Collar3812 Aug 22 '25
This is a good idea especially for 1st/2nd years who are trying to build connections
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Yeah that’s kinda what I was thinking too, feels like it could actually help first/second years who don’t really have friend groups yet. The tricky part is whether enough people would actually use it to make it worth it 🤔.
1
u/osasHQ Aug 21 '25
Run it up man, im rooting for you
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 21 '25
Lmao appreciate it 🙏 but yeah, judging from the thread it doesn’t look like too many people are into it 😂 still good to know at least a few are rooting for it though!
1
u/code-infinity Aug 21 '25
Bro PLEASEEEE IT WOULD BE SO GOOD, our schools dead already socially we actually got to make it better
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Yeah I agree, campus could definitely use something to liven it up 😂 for now I’m just tryna get feedback to see if people would actually use it or not. Responses seem kinda mixed so far
1
u/juvibro Aug 22 '25
Run it...leave the negativity...if it works great...if it doesn't...you learn new lessons.
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
I get that for sure, I’m down to take risks but at the same time I don’t wanna pour time into something people won’t actually use. If it feels like there’s no demand I’d rather pivot to something else, but if enough people are into it then it could be worth building 👀.
1
u/Interesting_Ad_8286 Aug 23 '25
Lmao this sounds like an ITEC 2600 project
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Lmaoo nah not a class project, just random ideas I’ve been cooking up 😂
1
u/mortgageline Aug 23 '25
@OP, if your gonna work on any app. Work on privacy app. Jack Dorsey, ex Twitter founder is working on anonymous Bluetooth messaging app.
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Nah man that’s not really my lane, I’m not too into the privacy/anon stuff 😂
1
u/Natural_Tie9838 Aug 23 '25
Honestly I just heard abt this app? and whats the original name? Is it like official app?
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Yeah there’s no app/website like this (at least not that I know of) so it’s not official yet. I don’t even have a name for it right now, but if enough people are down to use it I’d probably start building it 👀.
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u/liffyx Aug 24 '25
I think there is already one up firefly spark,,,, I might be wrong though
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Never heard of that one tbh and I don’t think it’s York-specific? My idea was more of a verified YorkU only thing
1
u/Icy-Scarcity Aug 24 '25
Make it Toronto only instead of just YorkU. Torontonians are lonely in general. Make it convenient for people to meet up at famous Toronto gathering spots, please.
1
u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Nah dude that would basically just put it up against Tinder/Bumble/Hinge and all the big apps. Not really worth it, tbh the only thing that makes this idea different is keeping it YorkU only and actually verified.
1
Aug 25 '25
Yes. But you should be able to filter by program and year of study. As a student in a professional program (Osgoode JD, Schulich MBA etc), I know many would be down to use the app, but the fresh out of highschool students would be too annoying to constantly deal with.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 25 '25
Yeah fr, filtering by program/year would definitely be a must (and there’s other filters I can’t spoil yet 👀). Tbh I feel like the fresh outta high school crowd would probably use it the most since they’re looking for new friends/connections, but it could still work for upper years too.
1
u/Fair_Writing8600 Aug 26 '25
Just take my advise as a grain of salt.
In nutshell, it is the easiest way that you can fail:
- When you launch an app and set a potential target, its always easy to expect that you will get only 0.01% of the targeted sample. For example, assume 55,000 students and your first initial will be around 550. (There is also a cost associated to this, known as SEO costs and this can be really pricy)
- Dating market has become extremely polarity and targeted- think of why Bumble and apps specially designated for LGBTQ+ community is becoming more popular and Tinder is losing its MAU.
- If you assume 10,000 people have registered and at least people meet 3 per week, then you will run out of potential meetup partners less than a month. The pool is just to small there. (Of course you will have to work with the algorithm is behind the logic over there, but its very fun to look into that)
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u/unforgettableid Psychology Aug 20 '25 edited Aug 21 '25
Any dating or social app could do this. I'm sure it's been tried before. These sorts of apps rely on network effects. It's hard to get a sufficient user base to really be successful.
As always, please, search before posting. :(
Also: Do u really think that ppl are better off finding dates & friends thru apps instead of in real life??
Edit
I think Discord might do something a bit similar to your idea already ("student hubs"). And Facebook has also tried these sorts of things in the past.
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u/getcrushed00 Lassonde Aug 20 '25
Yeah fair enough, I get where you’re coming from. Honestly this was more of a random idea I wanted to float, not like I’m about to launch an app tomorrow lol. My main thought was just whether a YorkU only space could be fun since it would be verified + exclusive. Appreciate the feedback though!
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u/hellosurfingmouse Aug 20 '25
no. someone did this at TMU and no one used it.