The tech startup Emory Bubble plans to test its latest version of emorybubble.com, known as Bubble Beta, at Emory schools and other Georgia universities this spring, according to Campus Bubble Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Spencer Barkoff ('13B).
The upcoming version, referred to by the company's founders as "Bubble Next," is set for full launch as an official Emory communication platform – completely replacing Learnlink – at the start of the fall 2014 semester.
Campus Bubble, an academic networking startup led by recent Emory graduates and created in an Emory dorm, combines the functions of communication systems like Learnlink, Facebook, Office 365, Blackboard and Google Docs.
Early last fall, the company released the third version of its central component, Emory Bubble, with the endorsement of the Division of Campus Life.
This semester, Barkoff said, Emory College, Oxford College, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, the Rollins School of Public Health and the Laney Graduate School will test and participate in focus groups giving feedback on Bubble Beta, released in November 2013.
Campus Bubble is also arranging product test-runs with student entrepreneurs at Georgia State University and Babson College in Boston this semester, due to each university's "difficulty [in] centralizing campus communications," according to co-founder and President Nir Levy ('13B).
Webinars and information sessions during the upcoming summer will also prepare the Bubble for its full launch in the fall.
"We are proud to say that Bubble Beta is reliable, scalable and relatively bug-free," Chief Product Officer and co-founder Giovanni Hobbins ('13C) said. "After suffering through an unsuccessful launch with 45-second login times, constant lagging and countless bug reports, we have learned our lesson about building product the right way."
According to Levy, at least 500 "bubbles" have been created and more than 3,600 students, faculty and staff have logged in since Aug. 23, 2013. And, Levy said, the fact that the average site visitor spends more than six minutes on the site and checks out at least five pages per visit "shows that our web app is user-friendly and engaging."
The company is now at work designing and developing "Bubble Next," the version set for official launch this fall. This version, Hobbins said, "will put to use our findings from six months of focus groups, usability surveys and current usage analytics" and will feature "more intuitive onboarding," or instruction for new users, "better notifications, collaborative documents and a more-efficient interface."
In addition to collaborating with other universities, Campus Bubble is also working with Emory's Division of Finance and local vendors like Nectar food trucks and Mint 2 Thai-Sushi restaurant in Decatur to bring students coupons and other benefits through mobile and online platforms.
Campus Bubble is also in negotiations with a new investor, according to Barkoff. Campus Bubble could not give the name of the investor for confidentiality reasons.
"We're almost there, and we continue to thank everyone for their support," Barkoff said. "To date, we have not met expectations and for that we apologize and take full responsibility."
Though the startup's plans prepare it for a full replacement of Learnlink as Emory's official communication system, College junior Tyler Cooke said he has doubts.
"In concept, Emory Bubble is great," Cooke said. "But it's not filling a niche that isn't already filled. It's trying to be Facebook, Blackboard and Google Docs, but it's not doing any of those things as well as they're already doing it."
Barkoff, however, said that today, no sole application truly "does it all."
"There isn't one single way to collaborate in the classroom environment. We use Blackboard, Google Docs, text groups and even Facebook," he said. "While we don't expect that Emory Bubble will replace all of these tools, we do know that there is still a very real problem we are trying to solve."
He added that students often skim and delete academic communications sent through Microsoft Office 365, and that conversations relating to campus events and extracurricular activities generally take place on Facebook.
Barkoff said Emory Bubble provides students with a way to create their academic identity.
"I believe that we will centralize and be relied upon for everyday communication," he said.
–By Lydia O'Neal
