Increasing Socio-Spatial Connectedness Among Students: A Location-Based AR Social Media Network Approach

Augmented Reality (AR) applications embedding user-generated social media content into the physical environment have the potential to increase users’ socio-spatial connectedness but are under-researched. Therefore, we built a location-based AR social network app, including geotagged AR social media photos. We explore our app in a research probe of senior university students (n = 6), providing activity-related information to first-year university students at the campus (n = 11). We could identify how AR content is created at a location, what type of pictures are shared with whom, how the sharing increased the attachment to local places and the socio-spatial connectedness for first-year students. Finally, we discuss other application scenarios and outline challenges and opportunities for location-based AR social media networks.