Word of mouth is important in a richly saturated campus life and students often rely on the good word from their friends. With students connecting with their locations and sharing those experiences in real-time, it’s easy to find what’s going on at the quad or who’s speaking at the Library. 

Not only is Gowalla a great resource for discovering what’s happening on campus, it’s also a fantastic way for prospective students to learn more about a potential choice college. If not by means of a self-guided tour, one can browse through the catalog of buildings, historic landmarks, and other distinguished spots on campus by entering the location of the university in the search bar and selecting the catagory “College & Education” at http://gowalla.com/spots. In addition to offering facts or tidbits of information, most spots feature photos taken from all angles by previous visitors.

Two students at New Mexico State University have taken an active approach of using Gowalla to promote events and highlight notable spots on campus. Jonathan Garcia and Joseph Holguin set up a Twitter account, Facebook page entitled “Gowalla at NMSU” and have used both to advocate the platform. I received an email from Jonathan a few months back requesting swag for distribution. Shortly after sending him a box full of t-shirts and stickers, he messaged me and told me how he and his friend Joseph intended to allocate the goods during a Cinco de Mayo event on campus, promising photos. The next day, as vowed, a link to the Facebook photo album arrived in my inbox and I was amazed to see the amount of effort put into a how-to checklist and the general table setup. Several other NMSU related accounts specifically NMSU Insider and NMSU PanAmmunition have since surfaced.

The University of Louisville has gone the extent of checking in and adding photos at spots around campus beyond developing the “University of Louisville 1 Hour Walking Tour.”

 

Uppsala Universitet in Sweden created several event spots in honor of Walpurgis Night and awarded students, alumni and staff who checked in at all 5 festivities a tangible custom pin.  

Pretty motivating, huh? If you’re ready to rock your school on Gowalla follow these three easy steps: 

1. Claim your school using http://gowalla.com/business. (Skip this one if you’re not affiliated with the University.)
2. Create a Trip (or 2 or 3 or…) to highlight your campus tour, a particular department, a study abroad program, etc.
3. Holla at us via campus@gowalla.com and request a university street package chalk full of t-shirts, stickers and window clings to help kick-off Gowalla usage around campus.