Sidechat is an app “built for your college community.”
The anonymous meme-sharing platform launched at Boston University on Oct. 4. Since then, multiple student groups have promoted Sidechat on social media and at tables outside BU buildings, yet the platform has been met with varied opinions.
Todd Lee-Millstein, a freshman in the College of Engineering and Sidechat launch ambassador, helped promote the app on BU campus.
“I do also legitimately really like the app,” he said. “So I was happy to help out and try to launch it here,” he said.
Lee-Millstein said there were Sidechat-sponsored tables outside the George Sherman Union and Questrom School of Business which offered free cookies in exchange for students downloading the app.
“I didn’t think it would be a good marketing strategy, but I learned it works pretty well,” he said.
Before its arrival at BU, Sidechat received attention at colleges such as Harvard University and Tufts University in the spring of 2022.
At BU, in exchange for financial compensation, student organizations posted on Instagram and encouraged fellow students to download Sidechat.
A Sidechat employee reached out to Srirupa Yerramsetti, a sophomore in ENG and member of the all-female fusion dance group, Chankaar, with the goal of sponsoring a student organization at BU.
Sidechat gave Chankaar a custom link for followers to use to download the app. The dance group received $3 for every download within the first two days of the launch. Yerramsetti said the money went to the organization’s budget.
“Obviously, everyone is looking for opportunities to fundraise,” Yerramsetti said. “I really was just like I need to try to get this out to as many people as we can.”
A number of other BU student organizations posted Sidechat to their social media, but still, BU students have mixed feelings on the benefits of Sidechat.
Rani Kaushik, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she downloaded Sidechat after seeing Instagram stories. Since initially downloading it, she does not use the app very often.
“It’s kind of not as exciting, it’s the same content over and over again,” said Kaushik. “I feel like it’s not as much new content.”
Eliza Ciardella, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said she saw the table at the GSU and Instagram stories, but did not download Sidechat.
“I haven’t really felt like I needed to see what was on it,” she said.
On the content, Kaushik said most of what is posted is “relatable” memes to BU students.
“I feel like a lot of it is more neutral, just posts about Warren escalators, GSU finding a table…” she said.
Kaushik said that when the app first launched, there were more posts targeted at sororities and fraternities at BU. Although she said the jokes were made “in a funny way,” she said the anonymity of the app led to the “negative posts earlier on.”
“You give people an anonymous platform and they know that they can say whatever, do whatever, without anyone finding out who they are,” she said.
Ciardella shared the same sentiments about the anonymous feature of the app.
“People feel more inclined to say whatever they want, and that’s usually negative,” she said.
However, Ciardella said the overall effect of the app can help students “get a better feel of the community.”
Lee-Millstein said Sidechat helped him “feel connected to the community as a freshman.”
“It’s a good example of how social media can be used to connect people… even though the app is anonymous,” Lee-Millstein said. “They did a really good job of moderating the content. You’re not allowed to basically be hateful, or target specific people.”
