For the modern college student, social media most often creates a distraction from lectures and coursework. A new app named Feedit, however, has changed the game by incorporating academic life into its social media platform. 

Debuting at nine colleges across California earlier this month, Feedit is a university-specific social media app for both iOS and Android that creates a forum for users to discuss various aspects of student life, all in a neat and organized atmosphere. Founder and CEO Ryan Cornateanu has toyed with the idea for years, adapting and evolving the concept in reaction to the ever-changing online world. 

“Upon starting my freshman year at UCLA, my dad and I started discussing the concept in a coffee shop,” Cornateanu said. “The initial concept was a way for theatre majors to share their portfolios in order to get their name out there. Dubbed ‘Student Projectbook,’ I messed around with it for a while, but wanted the program to have a larger audience than just theatre majors.”

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That's when Ryan thought of Feedit. Instead of simply being a portfolio-sharing database, the app evolved into a forum for students of all disciplines. For the next two years, Ryan developed the interface, creating and recreating the platform as he came up with newer additions to his idea.

Though he continued for a few years working on the project alone, when it came time to expand, Ryan recruited the help of his cousin, USC Sophomore Ethan Mezrahi, and made him Vice President of the project.

“I was instantly hooked when Ryan approached me about Feedit,” Ethan said. “I really liked the concept and wanted to help make it the best it could be.”

Their combined background in business and computer science made Cornateanu and Mezrahi an effective team, and the project quickly became a reality. Along with Ryan’s father Vlady Cornateanu, they have tirelessly worked on the project together since February, anxiously awaiting its recent release.

The final product is everything they hoped for. 

So what exactly makes Feedit different from other social media apps? Upon signing up, to start, a user enters all classes they’re taking this semester and then is added to exclusive pages for each class. 

“It takes the trouble out of making a group page for a specific class. Often some people are too shy to interact initially with other students, but with our app, all your classmates are already accessible if you, say, forgot to write down the homework assignment,” said Ryan.

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Users have a profile, like in other social media platforms, but profile info includes majors, minors, current classes and past classes. Anything shared or contributed to by the user is transcribed underneath his or her basic info on the page.

Discussion doesn’t stop at classes, however. The app includes a “university forums” section that contains eight different topics: books, collaboration, eateries, entertainment, events, housing/furniture, rate my course and university how-to’s. Students can start a thread in one of these sections, and anyone from the university can contribute to the conversation.

For example, if an organization on campus wants to advertise an event they were holding, they would simply post a thread under the “events” section. Though not a new concept, since organizations do this all the time on Facebook groups, the Feedit app allows these organizations to reach everyone on campus using the app, not just friends of the poster or members of an event's group.

“Feedit is supposed to be a mixture of academic and social communication, a pair that has yet to been combined explicitly in a social media app,” said Ethan. “Hence why it is specifically for college campuses.”

Trending posts from each section feed onto the main page, giving students the most popular posts from the past few days in one place. This provides posters the opportunity to create hype for collaborations, events, and more they want to share by expanding their audience to the entire student body.

Feedit is starting small, launching at just nine universities, but creators Ryan and Ethan eagerly plan on expanding the app to more universities nationwide. Once Feedit expands further, another feature will be added to connect all campuses. An “all-school button” will supply collaboration between students throughout the Feedit interface. Trending posts from every Feedit campus will show up here, and anyone who uses the app will be able to contribute to the conversation.

Until then, though, Ethan and Ryan have their hopes set on moving their office from Downtown LA to Westwood and continuing to develop the app to cater to the type of community that nurtured this idea.

“We want Feedit to be an app that brings your student life wherever you go,” Ryan said. “College life thrives on ideas and collaboration, and this app brings the nature of a college campus right to your fingertips.”

Reach Staff Reporter Alana Bracken here and follow her on Twitter here.