University of British Columbia Alumni Affairs Launches TrekConnect, Trusted Social Network for Alumni Powered by Affinity Engines, Inc.
Affinity Engines Opens Canadian Office Based in Vancouver
Vancouver, B.C. and Mountain View, CA, June 20, 2006 – The University of British Columbia Alumni Affairs today announced that it is launching TrekConnect, powered by Affinity Engines. TrekConnect is designed to provide UBC alumni with an exclusive social network and enable alumni to leverage UBC connections to explore potential business, personal and life opportunities. UBC has 230,000 alumni and more than 45,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
UBC Alumni can access TrekConnect via www.alumni.ubc.ca, the new UBC Alumni Affairs website.
With a new Vancouver office and a deal to provide UBC with its specialized inCircleR online social networking platform, Affinity Engines, headquartered in Mountain View, CA, is looking forward to capturing an untapped Canadian market.
Affinity Engines’ inCircle platform, branded by UBC as TrekConnect, enables alumni associations to offer their alumni a way to connect with friends and friends-of-friends in a trusted and secure online community branded to their institution. User authentication and pre-established institutional values enhance trust and promote interaction among members. Unlike online social networks that are open to the general public, inCircle networks require identity verification before an alumnus can join. Members can search the alumni database to find specific individuals and invite them to join their personal networks, thus virally expanding the size of the community.
Affinity Engines was founded by Stanford University graduates who wanted to revolutionize alumni networking. What differentiates the inCircle network from other online social networking tools is its exclusivity and a verification process – each network serves a specific university’s alumni and all new members are authenticated against the school’s database. Affinity Engines has contracts with more than 50 American universities, with UBC being the first Canadian post-secondary institution to use the product.
“Affinity Engines’ goal is to provide alumni associations and membership organizations with a platform that enables them to offer a rich, interactive and engaging environment for social networking,” said Steve Loughlin, president and CEO of Affinity Engines. “We are proud to partner with UBC to provide the inCircle trusted social networking platform to their global alumni population.”
“UBC Alumni Affairs is dedicated to providing our alumni with the best resources to enhance their lives personally and professionally,” stated Barney Ellis-Perry, Director of Professional Affairs. “inCircle is our choice for a social networking platform because they offer us the most desirable combination of power and flexibility. Affinity Engines has become a valuable extension of our staff.”
The new network is a free service that students and alumni will be able to access through UBC’s Alumni Affairs website. When new users sign on, they will be able to find friends in the database and invite people to join their network, creating a viral effect that is expected to create long-lasting professional and personal relationships.
What distinguishes this service from larger online networks is the fact it is built within an existing community based on a common experience. Users have full control over their personal data and profiles, and can decide which information is available to other people within the network. Search criteria can also be used to identify people with common interests or careers.
About Affinity Engines, Inc.
Affinity Engines provides trusted social networks for membership organizations. With inCircle, the company’s hosted social network solution, membership organizations can help their members build and maintain personal and professional connections in a dynamic, trusted online community. For more information on Affinity Engines please visit www.affinityengines.com
About University of British Columbia Alumni Affairs
Alumni Affairs at UBC engages alumni and students, as future alumni, in the life of the university in its broadest sense. Through communications, connecting alumni to the institution and one another, and celebrating milestones, we enrich the lives of alumni and position them to be supporters and advocates for UBC.
Carleen LeVasseur
Affinity Circles Public Relations
(408) 264-6767
carleen@affinitycircles.com