What started as one's search for deeper connections, has turned into an app to help USC students to do the same.
Alireza Bagheri Rajeoni, a computer science PhD student at USC, had the idea for FriendsO when he was struggling to find a tennis partner to play a good game and have a connection with.
“It’s always fun to have a chit-chat buddy when playing tennis,” Bagheri Rajeoni said.
All of his friends had moved away, leaving him needing to find a new partner on his own.He said he wanted to help others who had been struggling the way he was, so he created an app for people to make connections. He created the app to help students connect, whether it's to find a sports partner or make a new friend.
“I noticed something is broken in the way we meet new people,” Bagheri Rajeoni said.
Bagheri Rajeoni and his partner Mojtaba Naderi launched FriendsO this year for USC students to download if they are looking to find more connections on campus.The app is AI-powered, connecting students with peers who share similar interests.
When users initially download the app, they enter information about their hobbies and things they like.The next steps ask how the users would choose to spend their day off and what their top goal for the year is.
Bagheri Rajeoni and Naderi said they use psychology to understand the best ways of connecting people on deep levels, which is how they came up with their question ideas.
After answering the questions, the user sets up a profile and uses a chat box to describe what they are looking for to then be matched with the other users.
“It's exactly like the way you would go to that mutual friend and say, 'Can you find me someone to play tennis with who matches my personality?'” Bagheri Rajeoni said.
When it comes to making friends, Bagheri Rajeoni said some may have a hard time finding people they click with. He said he has struggled with this himself.
"Out of every ten (people) I was meeting, I did not have anything in common with eight to nine of them,” Bagheri Rajeoni said.
Third-year journalism student Zariah Hollington said she relates to this issue.
“I haven't clicked with everyone I’ve met here,” Hollington said. “It would be cool to find more people with similar interests as me.”
Naderi said people can be shy, and this app gives them the ability to start conversations they might not have in real life.He said the app is one of the first of its kind with the way it connects people through the match-making AI.
"Technology should help people to improve their lives in order to improve how they communicate (and) how they build relationships with others," Naderi said.
Bagheri Rajeoni said his friends have had a positive experience using the app, finding roommates and partners in their sports.
Hollington is hopeful an app like this could introduce students to connections that are beyond surface level.
"My best friend might be out there somewhere at the same school, and I don't know," Hollington said.
The app allows users to communicate with Bagheri Rajeoni and Naderi about their experience through a support button. Naderi said this feature has been helpful with making improvements to the app and seeing what the users need.Since the app is new, Bagheri Rajeoni and Naderi are still working on software to improve the algorithm that connects students.
FriendsO is available exclusively to USC students right now, but Bagheri Rajeoni and Naderi said they hope the app will be able to expand.
Students can download the app on the App Store and are required to enter their USC email to register.