Uloop.com, a California-based Web site that allows users to post apartment listings, used textbooks and various jobs and services, recently launched an AU version of the service.
Once you've registered with Uloop, you can only see the postings of other AU users. The site requires an AU e-mail address for authentication.
Ryan MacCarthy, Uloop's co-founder and director of product development, said he helped found Uloop as a site to sell used textbooks.
"It started out of textbooks," he said. "We saw that students were consistently being exploited by publishers in the bookstores. We also saw that there were a lot of campus marketplaces around the country. As soon as the student who built it graduated, it died off."
MacCarthy said the site functions similarly to the Craigslist Web site, but there is a key difference.
"What we find when we talk with students is they say Craigslist is creepy," he said. "They certainly wouldn't want to find carpools on Craigslist."
Nathan Reily, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, said he wonders whether Uloop will have the variety of listings that sites like Craigslist have.
"The concept sounds promising," he said. "The question is whether a Web site like Uloop can challenge the depth of the items you can buy or sell on a site like Craigslist."
One of Uloop's functions is a housing message board that allows users to post listings for housing, roommates and sublets. Universities have come to Uloop for partnerships, MacCarthy said.
"At other schools we have been contacted by officials looking to integrate," he said.
AU Housing and Dining Programs will not partner with Uloop in the near future, according to Housing and Dining Executive Director Chris Moody.
"AU has an exclusive contract with Off Campus Partners," he said.
Off Campus Partners hosts and operates AU's official off-campus housing board Web site. This exclusive agreement extends until the spring 2010 semester, Moody said.
Jeremy Diamond, a senior in the School of Communication, said he is concerned with the lack of AU users on Uloop.
"If it had more users or if it was integrated into a Web site that students already use, like Facebook, it might function better than the Marketplace it hosts or the Network pages it used to host," he said.
MacCarthy said he hopes to change this soon.
"We'll do marketing through Facebook and Google," he said. "So when students are searching textbooks or housing at American they'll see us."
MacCarthy said he looks forward to Uloop serving the AU community.
Uloop was founded last year at University of California, Santa Barbara, he said. AU is one of 250 campuses nationwide that currently have sites established.
"We want to be at the best schools," MacCarthy said. "American is a great fit for Uloop."
You can reach this staff writer at eklapper@theeagleonline.com.
