TikTok launches Campus Hub for college students

TikTok is launching a new “Campus Hub” feature, which is available across more than 6,000 universities. The company announced the launch in an email to TechCrunch on Thursday. The new hub features dedicated college group chats and personalized feeds designed to help students stay connected with their campus communities, even while they are away for the summer. Within the hub, verified students can create and join group chats with up to 300 classmates. These group chats are exclusive to verified students at the same school. TikTok says these chats can be used to stay in touch, plan reunions, or keep conversations going over the summer. Meanwhile, the personalized college feeds will surface a mix of content posted by verified students and content related to their university, allowing users to stay plugged into campus life, trends, and updates from wherever they may be.

The new hub builds on the app’s campus verification feature, which launched last August. That initial feature lets users add their college campus to their TikTok profile and browse a list of students at their school to find and connect with others. To access the new Campus Hub, users must first confirm their student status. TikTok manages this process through a partnership with UNiDAYS, a student verification platform that confirms student status before granting access to the dedicated hub.

With this launch, TikTok may be aiming to get students to use its app for everyday school communication, such as class or club discussions. These interactions typically take place on other platforms, including Discord and Facebook Messenger. However, TikTok faces direct competition in this space. Meta-owned Instagram rolled out a feature last year that is nearly identical to TikTok’s campus verification feature. The Instagram feature allows students in the U.S. to add their college or university to their profile banner and browse a list of students at their school.

Why it matters

The new hub builds on TikTok’s existing campus verification feature to help students stay connected, while potentially positioning the app to compete with platforms like Discord and Facebook Messenger for everyday school communication.