About.me goes after LinkedIn for college students' attention

NEW YORK — As with an increasing number of today's students and graduates, Griffin Sinn was told in high school to make a LinkedIn profile. The recent graduate of Indiana University recalls many of his former classmates asking questions about what to put on the professional social network, since at this point in their lives, they hadn't yet accrued much work experience.

"A lot of people just put volunteer work or something because they didn't really have a job," recalls Sinn. "I think it was primarily required because LinkedIn is the standard."

On Tuesday, LinkedIn has some new competition for college students' attention from about.me, the personal homepage website created by Tony Conrad and Ryan Freitas. The site is launching a new Campus section aimed at helping college students establish their public online profile that can showcase them and who they are personally even if they don't yet have the rich work experience on which to build a more complete, LinkedIn-type resume.

"It is naturally solving a problem for college kids, and that is that most college kids, either they're not going to an Ivy League-type school or they don't have breadth of experiences or they don't have a depth of accomplishments," says Conrad in an interview with USA TODAY. "Most people probably look like me when they come out of college, and that is a bunch of different experiences that would show that I'm industrious, and I work hard and I'm active. But I didn't really have anything 'sexy' to kind of point to, something really monumental."

About.me profiles often feature full-screen images of the user, frequently accompanied by a bio and links to other social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and yes, LinkedIn. While all profiles on the network are public, it is different from Facebook and Twitter in that there are no status updates, instead designed to be a quick way others can learn about you, something Conrad says has made it more appealing to students.

Campus will feature school and career tips from variety of popular college speakers, career coaches and young entrepreneurs in addition to a special page designed to give exposure to students' profiles.

A section called "Campus Faves" will highlight students, who can submit their own profile to become a "Campus Fave" or can be nominated by their college's career services department or one of their professors. The section will initially be focusing on 15-20 college students a week and will profile students from large and small universities.

"When we talk about getting discovered," says Antonio Neves, about.me's Director of Higher Education, "it is our mission to help these young men and women accomplish whatever goals they have. I don't care if that's getting a fellowship or getting a job. There's nowhere else you're going to see these young men and women on sites across the country like that."

Students chosen to become a Campus Fave will be notified by about.me. The company will additionally publicize the pages on social media and alerting students' respective colleges. "It's going to be a big deal to be a Campus Fave on about.me," adds Neves.

The site will also be working directly with companies looking to find interns while also partnering with other internship websites as the new school year approaches, another step towards challenging LinkedIn which features a robust job and internship directory already popular with college students.

"I don't think we would have built this product if I felt like LinkedIn's product or other products out there served this demographic well. I know that it doesn't," says Conrad. "I think that LinkedIn is an amazing product as you gain more and more experience and have more and more accomplishments over time, but that's for most college students 5-7 years out."

The launch of Campus follows recent about.me additions including Intro, an Android and iOS app that functions like a digital business card, Email Signature, an embeddable visual thumbnail that links to a user's about.me page, and the resume-like Backstory.

Thinking back now, Sinn feels his classmates would have been more comfortable with an about.me as they started their online professional careers. "A lot of students don't have that much experience, whether high school or college… and if you're an employer looking at people with no experiences about.me is a great way to help assess your bets."

Of course with LinkedIn being the popular standard it will still serve a purpose as students and graduates apply for jobs. Says Sinn, "if it required an online application and it had a field for a LinkedIn, I would of course fill that in with my LinkedIn."

Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal