Facebook is shutting down its college student-only social network, Campus

The fall 2020 launch of Campus, a private section within Facebook that was only open to those with an email address, was intended to return the social network to its college roots. However, the initiative didn't succeed, as Facebook now tells users that Campus will shut down on March 10.

In an in-app message, Facebook tells users that its Campus pilot will close and that profiles, groups, posts and other data will be deleted. Users will be able to view their data and download it using an export tool before it shuts down.

We launched the Campus pilot to help bring college communities closer together. The best way to support students is through Facebook Groups, according to the message.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, said that he posted a picture of the message on the social media site. Other users noted the planned shutdown and deletion of data. Very few people commented on the loss, perhaps because of the lack of traction.

The idea of offering college students a private place to connect with classmates, join groups, learn about upcoming campus events, and chat with others was presented by Facebook as a way to appeal to younger people.

There was a belief that Facebook could potentially use the fact that many students had shifted to virtual learning to drive adoption of its online college network.

Campus wasn't offered as a separate app, but as a part of the More section on Facebook. It may have felt more like a part of Facebook than a private network.

The image is from Facebook.

Users complained that Facebook marketed the feature too aggressively. One person on the social networking site remarked how they were being pushed to join Campus even though they were not a student. After 30 more schools were added to the service, the feature had become available to 60 total U.S. colleges and universities. As local outlets were reporting school additions, Facebook Campus expansions were underway as early as this January.

The pilot program has 204 schools on board.

The original idea for Campus came about because students were already using Facebook Groups for their college, and Facebook wanted to explore if a dedicated product could better serve this use case. Facebook realized that Groups worked better.

The decision to shut down Campus was confirmed by the spokesman.

We’ve decided to end our pilot of Facebook Campus. We learned a lot about the best ways to support college students, and one of the most effective tools to help bring them together is Facebook Groups. We’ve notified students in the test schools that Campus will no longer be available, and have suggested relevant college Facebook groups for them to join.