Say goodbye to overwhelming notifications from group messages and hello to WiGo, an app specifically designed for college students to see where other local students will be hanging out for the night. WiGo, or “who is going out,” is currently linked to 650 schools across the country and is climbing the iTunes charts. According to the WiGo website, the app uses “student-only filter blocks” to prevent outsiders and adults from crashing the parties and, similar to Snapchat, all the information erases after 24 hours. Not only does the app allow you to see which students are going where, but you can also “tap” on students to invite them out. The app is striving to become a mainstream form of social networking but is facing some criticism, according to USA Today, because of the potential for people outside of the college to hack into the app. Vanessa Sanchez, a junior accounting major, agrees that the app presents itself with a lot of potential problems and safety risks. “While I think it’s a good idea to help students who find themselves bored on the weekends, I think the social network aspect makes it very unsafe and opens the door for non-Seton Hall students to show up to places they may not be wanted,” said Sanchez. Eldridge Etienne, a sophomore secondary special education and English major, shared a similar negative viewpoint and even said she would only download the app for one day to check it out and then delete it after. Etienne said she thinks the app is “creepy and unnecessary because when people go out they contact their friends and either go out together or meet up. No one wants to know where a stranger is going.” Etienne also said the app could cause problems for small, intimate parties because they could grow out of hand and become crazier than they were meant to be. The WiGo website addresses this potential issue by offering a “private event” option that is hidden and only the people you approve of can see it. Jason Supplee, a sophomore public relations major, said he finds the app dangerous and has no interest in downloading it. Supplee said the app could almost encourage students to stalk each other in an unhealthy manner. “If I wanted to go to a party I would just text my friends because it’s easier and doesn’t require me to download a special app,” said Supplee. Mackenzie Scibetta can be reached at mackenzie.scibetta@student.shu.edu.
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