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Purdue students develop innovative new way to
network
By JILLIAN ELLISON Staff Reporter | Posted: Monday, August 31, 2015 10:00 am
Two Purdue students have created a new concept
related to the idea of shaking hands.
Yarkın Sakuçoğlu, a sophomore in the Polytechnic
Institute, and Alihan Ozbayrak, a senior in the College
of Science, have created a new smart phone
application called Socio that makes connecting via
social media a lot easier.
“It first came to my mind when I was in Turkey at a
large networking event where about 40 people were
trying to connect by getting each other on LinkedIn,
getting each others phone numbers and receiving email
addresses,” said Sakuçoğlu. “Calling the other
person’s phone, taking the time to type all of the
information down; it’s just time consuming. To me, it
just doesn’t seem like the twenty­first century.”
The idea resurfaced in his mind during his week at
BGRi.
“I got a message from my friend in a group message,” said Sakuçoğlu. “She was like, ‘Hey, here is
my Instagram, Snapchat, email’ and everything else and I thought again how time consuming it was,
so there had to be a solution to it.”
The app created by Sakuçoğlu and Ozbayrak allows the user to connect with anyone else in the room
with just the shake of their phone.
“The app is very easy, but it is very powerful,” said Sakuçoğlu. “We have a mission and a vision
behind it and it’s pretty simple: providing maximum connection with minimum hassle.”
With a quick shake, the user will be able to add anyone desired to their list of connections, providing
them with the other app user’s various social media handles and usernames.
“We have our lives made out of memories and connections, and there are a lot of tools that bring our
lives together, like your pictures you want to stay forever go on Instagram while the ones you don’t
want to, you take on Snapchat,” said Sakuçoğlu. “Your social life runs on Facebook while your
professional life goes on LinkedIn. A simple handshake can be really powerful, and when you shake
8/30/15 Socio App graphic
The new, social networking app created by
two Purdue students allows users to
connect across all social media forms with
just the shake of their phone.

2. 10/25/2015 Purdue students develop innovative new way to network - Purdue Exponent: Features
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hands with someone, you make them a part of your memories, but why not a part of your network?”
“We want to replace traditional handshakes with phone shakes to bring people into the twenty­first
century,” said Ozbayrak.
Within four days of the app’s initial launch, it generated over 1,000 users.
The fourth update will be coming within 10 days and will allow Android users to download it, as it is
only for available for iPhones right now.
“It is pretty big here at Purdue, but we want to try to launch an associates team so we can go to other
schools in the states and countries, starting in Turkey,” said Ozbayrak.
The app doesn’t require any confidential information from the user; it simply displays the user names
from the social media applications that the user provides.
“Only when you shake your phone, we take your location for 15 seconds and then we completely
forget about it,” said Sakuçoğlu. “It is a very safe app.”
“Other apps like this require Bluetooth, which puts a strain on your battery, and our app is nothing
like that,” said Ozbayrak.
The various forms of social media that may be displayed through the app are Facebook, Twitter,
Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, email, phone number, Skype and Google Plus. In the next update,
Wechat, Vine, Tumblr, Swarm and Foursquare users will be able to place their usernames in the app
as well.
“This is something that I wholeheartedly believe in,” said Sakuçoğlu. “When people meet each other
and immediately take out their phones to shake, I will know we are successful.”