LinkUp

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Inspiration

Over 40% of young adults have reported feelings of loneliness during the pandemic. Sadly, this statistic is no longer shocking for most of us, as we have all experienced this isolation firsthand. Fueled by these ubiquitous challenges, we wanted to create an accessible app that makes it as easy as possible to have a conversation with someone!

What it does

LinkUp is based on the idea of encouraging organic conversations driven by a common topic of interest. Through introducing a common interest as a discussion catalyst, we hope this will reduce the stress and anxiety that may accompany meeting new people.

Our app allows users to select and add topics of interest to their profile. These topics can range from sports teams, to hiking trails, to hackathons! Once selected, our application will implement an algorithm that matches users based on their interests. Users can schedule video chat conversations with the users they've matched with on the grounds of their common interest!

How we built it

Our prototype is built with React.js. It is stylized with various components from the Reactstrap and Bootstrap libraries. We chose a color scheme of blue and yellow to convey feelings of welcomeness and optimism. Our UI has a modern feel, and was created to be easy to use.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into challenges implementing some of the specific functionality of our app, which is why we left our application as a prototype for now. Specifically, we continually ran into bugs while implementing the video chat feature using WebRTC and Socket.io, which is why it has been ommitted from the prototype.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of the UI of our prototype. We are satisfied with the color scheme and overall layout we chose, and believe that the application design conveys our message and mission well.

What we learned

We learned that while it may not feasible to complete a full-scale project in two days, the process of planning is the most important step and cannot be neglected. We discovered that it was crucial to lay-out our application and functionality before beginning to build it, in order to maintain a consistent logic and streamlined user experience.

What's next for LinkUp

1. We will implement the video chat functionality with WebRTC and Socket.io, to allow users to video chat with their matched users.
2. We will create a pairing algorithm to match users based on their selected interests.

Built With

• bootstrap
• css
• github
• heroku
• html
• javascript
• react
• reactstrap