Harvard start-up aims to be 'future of social media'

Very soon, a Harvard student will find himself in the same place social media mogul Mark Zuckerburg was just a decade ago.

Like the founder of Facebook, senior Patrick Colangelo will be launching a new social media platform that started in a Harvard dorm room.

Spayce, a mobile start-up, wants to replicate the success of Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram by bringing everyone within a room's reach together — virtually.

Based on the idea of "capturing the moment," Colangelo says Spayce uses hyper-location and facial recognition to put a room filled with people on your iOS or Android smartphone.

"We want to show you wherever you are, what's happening around you and who's around you," says the 21-year-old from Toronto. "We're focused on what I would say is the future of social media."

Spayce will allow users within a 100-meter radius of one another to connect instantly, free of charge. Whether it's a classroom, business meeting or a local bar, once Spayce users enter a location, they will be introduced to the profiles of fellow users in that vicinity.

Two different types of profiles can be created, depending on the social situation.

A user's personal profile, which looks a lot like a personal trading card, can include pictures, friends and three adjectives describing themselves and their relationship status.

For more formal settings, a professional profile will include much of the same material but rather than using three words to describe themselves, users will display their occupation and three industries they are associated.

"People care about knowing what's happening around them in real time, and that's what Spayce brings to its users in a very unique way," says Colangelo.

When a user connects with new or old friends, they can start creating what the Spayce team calls a "Memory."

Whether is it through text, video, audio or pictures, memories can be temporary or permanent through three different options: private, friends or public.

"This makes for a live feed of what's happening there whenever you walk into a room," says Colangelo. "All memories that you create are saved permanently for participants but expire in 100 minutes for your friends on their memory feed."

There also is a "Look Back" feature that lets you see everyone that you have met within the past day.

Based on an idea Colangelo had last summer, Spayce already has evolved into a near-reality, mainly thanks to funding by a "wealthy Harvard angel," who wishes to remain private, according to Colangelo.

Along with his 15-member team of designers and engineers, Spayce already has more than 80 campus ambassadors nationwide advertising the upcoming launch and creating waiting lists.

"It truly is the app-of-all-trades," says 21-year-old marketing director and Harvard senior Josef Durand. "My goal is for Spayce to become more than just a company but an institution and norm in global society… I want as many people as possible making as many memories as possible."

It's ability to draw users closer for a more personal experience, agree Colangelo and Durand, is what separates this app from its competitors.

"We want to be as in the moment as possible," says Durand, who is graduating this May with a degree with psychology. "When people are having fun, when people are having a good time, when people are being social. These are times we want to catch people."

In December, Spayce ran a prototype for 300 Harvard students. The feedback was tremendous, says Colangelo, with "tens of thousands of people" on the waiting list across the country.

Harvard senior Taras Dreszer, 21, says it took him a little while to realize how brilliant the app was but believes it will be a huge success.

"My favorite part was it redefines socially how to meet people," says the evolutionary biology major. "It basically gives someone a non-awkward way to meet someone who they haven't met before."

While Colangelo is not sure how long it will take for his app to make an impact, he hopes all of the time he invested will pay off, even if it is only one room at a time.

"When you see that kind of potential to change the world, it really becomes your life," says Colangelo. "We hope that all this time we spent building this product will really change peoples lives, for the better, all over the world."