Ex-U. of Michigan student blocks Ohio State students from social network he created

[UrbScotty]

Akash Nigam, a University of Michigan dropout who left school with just one semester to go, is building a social network exclusive to college students. Everyone with a .edu email address is welcome. Unless, of course, you're a student at Ohio State University, Michigan's most hated rival.

Blend encourages users to share pictures that match the app's theme of the day, themes like "Tailgate Saturday" or "Library Shenanigans." When users get Snaps from others on Blend — the app's equivalent to Facebook Likes — they can turn them in as social currency for free gift cards from brand advertisers.

Take cool photos. Get your friends to Snap them. Redeem those Snaps for gifts. It's a simple concept that has attracted more than 50,000 daily users across the country. None of them hail from Buckeye country, however. The reason? Nigam and cofounder Matt Geiger, who also dropped out a semester early from the University of Pennsylvania, delete all Ohio State students who sign up.

"It's like, look, let's fix the problem for the people we care about, and we just don't care about Ohio State," "It's like, look, let's fix the problem for the people we care about, and we just don't care about Ohio State," says Nigam. "That's what it comes down to. We said, 'they probably shouldn't be included in a cool product that we're building.'"

http://mashable.com/2014/03/06/blend-social-network/

[Warren DeMontague]

1. It's a nocial network

[MADem]

2. It's a shitty version of .... facebook. And facebook is shitty enough as it is... nt