First year college students are using Patio, the new app helping them meet people before they arrive on campus.

First year college students are using Patio, the new app helping them meet people before they arrive on campus. To help with the fear of making friends in college, Patio is getting freshmen ahead of the game in a social, online environment Gen Z is more comfortable with. All first year students are invited to join a mass group chat and are free to join sub groups from there. The various sub groups include all types of people and their interests. For example, one student on Patio is a part of the Latinx, art school, and restaurant sub groups as well as a random group called Lettuce Club where every time someone in the group eats lettuce, they share a photo. While many are claiming Patio functions like Facebook for college students (the irony), the app requires a school email to sign in, ensuring a safe online space to make friends IRL (although the profiles do have Tinder-like qualities). YPulse research shows Gen Z connects by sharing content and one of the main reasons they visit social platforms is to find like minded people/groups. (BuzzFeed)