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MSU student and alumnus create update for new social media app

December 2, 2015

Social media apps such as Facebook and Twitter have changed the way people can communicate with one another.

The question now comes to why can’t people can't use apps to find friends with similar interests in our area. Students from MSU have tackled this issue by creating the mobile app LykeMe.

The co-founders of the app are MSU alumnus, Joshua Ogundu, computer science senior Yoseph Radding and computer science junior Brendan Carlson.

The purpose of the app is for users to find people in nearby areas who have the same interests and likes as them.

LykeMe was created because the experience Radding and Ogundu had while living in different locations.

“We both had similar experiences, I moved here from New York and Josh went to Minneapolis for an internship," Radding said. "Because of those two experiences, we knew no one in those perspective cities that we moved to." 

LykeMe made its debut in the apple app store in late May, but on Nov. 11, the app was updated to its 2.0 version to better suit users.

"There is so much different between this update and what we had previously,” Radding said. “The app is a lot faster, it works a lot better, we have a much better UI with a better user experience, we have a biography feature available and you can now add multiple pictures.”

Additionally, the app also now offers a variety of more features that weren’t on the previous version. These features were added with the users in mind due to feedback they had received. 

“When our first version came out, there was a lot of issues, a lot of bugs and a lot of problems,” Carlson said. “People were complaining, they were saying ‘Hey, we love your idea, we think there is a ton of potential for it but the technical part of the app doesn’t work too well.’”

In the upcoming year, the co-founders have a goal of doubling the amount of users.

“Going forward, we want to hit 10K (users) by early 2016 and go on from there,” Ogundu said.

In order to do this, the pair came up with the idea to start a Short Message Service, or SMS, campaign to spread awareness about the app through iMessage.

“The SMS campaign is for people that have iPhones, it is for anybody who wants to help spread awareness about LykeMe at MSU’s campus or in the greater Lansing area,” Ogundu said.

Anyone can get involved to become a brand ambassador for LykeMe, as long as they have an iPhone. The opportunity is paid for those who are interested.

The co-founders of the app are dedicated to making a change in the community and have an impact on the users.

“We’re excited to see how our update does and how people react to it, we’re hoping that we can start a big community starting with MSU’s campus and we really hope that it can create a change in the world,” Carlson said.

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