Almost a year ago Joseph Tironi, an Eastern Michigan University alumnus, built a free website called EMU Huddle. Although it has yet to be discovered by some students, Tironi, 26, has high hopes for the academic tool.
In response to outdated information on student organizations on the Campus Life webpage, Tironi created a whole new hub specifically for EMU students.
“Whenever I would look at the website that is supposed to keep students up to date on student organizations, groups, fraternities and sororities, the information either wasn’t there or out of date,” said Tironi, who earned a bachelor’s
degree in entrepreneurship from EMU.
Tironi started building the site in October 2010 and launched it January 2011. He said it was inspired by allMSU.com, a social networking site specifically for Michigan State University students. However, anyone can join allMSU, unlike EMU
Huddle, for which a student needs an Emich e-mail address to enter.
In comparison, Tironi’s site has roughly 303 members, while allMSU.com has more than 100,000 members.
Besides updating student organizations on the website, Tironi said, “I want the website to be a place where students can speak freely, sell or trade books and network with each other.”
Tironi built the site using Ning.com, a website designed to help people build social networking sites. With the help of Ning.com, the security of Huddle turned out almost flawless.
“I am able to filter out spam through a spam watch,” Tironi said. “There are more than 100 words that cannot be used on the site.”
Tironi said there was an issue a few months ago but the spam filter caught it, so he knows it will work if there is a larger issue in the future. Tironi also said he has to personally approve each picture posted on the site, similar to recent Facebook policies. He said he wants to keep the site rated ‘PG.’
Last year he advertised Huddle by bringing a hypnotist to campus and hopes to do the same this year with enough support from the university.
He said because he is attempting to help student organizations, EMU should support him more. For now, he wishes students and student organizations will hear about the site and contact him. As more students join the site, he can get local businesses
as sponsors.
“I can’t be the only person posting on the site,” said Tironi, owner of a real estate business and an employee at Home Depot. “I still see potential, though.
Looking at allMSU.com, my goal is for the site to start getting more active. Without members and without people posting in the forums I won’t be able to run the site much longer.”
