Facebook evokes college origins with 'Campus' at 30 U.S. schools

Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Social media giant Facebook on Thursday rolled out a section of the platform exclusively for college campuses.

The company launched Facebook Campus at 30 select U.S. colleges and universities.

Product Manager Charmaine Hung said it aims to help students "stay connected to college life" in a new environment of remote learning in the COVID-19 era.

"College is a time for making new friends, finding people who share similar interests and discovering new opportunities to connect -- from clubs to study groups, sports and more," Hung said in a statement.

The college-only section is also a flashback to how Facebook began nearly 20 years ago, as a network exclusive to the Harvard University campus.

"In the early days, Facebook was a college-only network, and now we're returning to our roots with Facebook Campus to help students make and maintain these relationships, even if they're away from their college," Hung added.

Features of the new network include a campus-only news feed, directory and student chat rooms.

Students can create a Campus profile displaying their college email, graduation year and other personal information. They can also see school groups and events and connect with classmates over similar interests.

Some of the schools getting the new setup first are Duke University, Caltech, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Florida International, Northwestern, Louisville, Vassar College and Virginia Tech.

For now, the section only allows users to connect with others at their own campus, Facebook said.