College boils down to the experiences people have. Memories of the good times are the ones that tend to stick more than memories of class and lecture halls. Unbucket is a recently developed app that enables users to form lists of things to experience and connect with other people through those lists.
The idea for Unbucket originated from the minds of co-founders Brian Berman and Elliot Darvick, both graduates of Washington University in St. Louis. However, before it became a web app, Unbucket was a Mother’s Day gift.
“The original genesis was a Mother’s Day gift,” Darvick said. “I thought, I am going to give her a list of things we can do together.'”
Unbucket then evolved into something more. It became an unorthodox, creative cross between a traditional “bucket list” of things to do and a social network with the intended purpose of bringing friends together in real life, as opposed to just interaction on the internet.
Lists can be created with both public and private privacy options. Darvick said Unbucket is intended for people who already know each other to connect through the lists they form, but inspiration for activities can be drawn from users who have public lists.
“The thing that drives us is how do you create technology that brings people close?” Darvick said.
Because it is only in a Beta stage, Unbucket is not as well-known among students at Texas A&M, but college students are among the target audience. Among those aware of Unbucket at A&M, they see it for its networking potential and the fact that it makes pre-graduation to-do lists easier to form.
“I think that would be real useful,” said Jessica Figueroa, senior anthropology major. “Everybody’s going to be graduating soon. With the help of an app such as this, people can actually share ideas and see things written down, which gives them the opportunity to do those things they wanted to do.”
Other students see Unbucket not as an organizer of activities to do while in college, but as a tool to list things they might want to do after they graduate.
Because college can be extremely stressful with fleeting periods of freedom, there are students who do not have the time to create bucket lists.
“Personally, I don’t really have a list of what I want to do before I get out,” said David Spellman, senior computer science major. “It’s more like a list of what I want to do when I get out.”
Because of its unique intended purpose, Unbucket is a social network. It is an outlet for anyone to try new things while simultaneously connecting with close friends.
As Unbucket is a fairly new app, it is currently available only in a web format. However, Darvick said a mobile app is in the works and should be released soon. Darvick has released a beta invite code, “aggie”, for Texas A&M students. The app can be accessed through www.unbucket.com.