Frequently Asked Questions

Q.What is Xploreu?

A.XploreU is a new student travel social network. Share travel stories and tips, meet fellow student travelers, learn where to go and what to do, post photos or videos or start your study abroad journal. As you participate in XU, you will earn points. You can use these points to the free trips, win cash contests, free gear and more. The more active you are, the more points you will earn.

Our founder, Meghan Hoover, believes that every student deserves to travel abroad. And every student has a story. So she has built a company that gets sponsors to send you abroad for sharing your stories. The goal is to send thousands of students abroad a month. The more students on the site, the more sponsors she can get.

Q.What are points and how do I earn them?

A.You need to earn points to participate in XploreU activities (Challenges and bidding on Cash Contests), but it's easy. Everything you do on XU earns you points -- Share your tips and stories, meet other travelers, complete your profile, win contests, comment on content, upload pictures and videos... everything.

Here is the point breakdown:

Comment on Story/Photo/Review (5)
New Friend (25)
Invite a Friend (10)
Upload Picture (10)
Upload Profile Photo (5)
Answer an Expert Question (15)
Rate a Submission (5)

Posting a...
Story/Article (35)
Creative Fiction/Poetry (20)
Current Events (25)
How-To (20)
List (15)
Random Thought (10)
Review (35)
Tip/Advice (15)
Contest Submission (20)

Adding Info to your Profile...
Birthday (10)
Expert In (15)
Gender (10)
Home Country (10)
Label (15)
Languages Spoken (5)
Studied Here (5)
University (10)
Major (10)
Year in School (10)

Q.What are my Stats?

A.You can find your stats on the right hand side of your profile. Stats list your Tier and Points.

"Friends" refers to the number of friends you have on XploreU.

"Invited" refers to how many people created accounts through your unique URL or Facebook "Share" button.

"Submissions" is how many stories, videos, pictures, etc. you have uploaded onto XploreU "Share your Story" section.

"Advised" shows how many people you have helped with their questions in the "Ask an Expert" section. You will receive emails when people ask a question relating to your listed expertise.

Remember, you need to be in Tier 2 (at least 250 points and 10 friends) to compete for Trips.

Q.What are Trips and how do I win them?

A.Trips are just that- free trips! A Trip challenge will be active for an extended period of time on the website. Sign up for a trip challenge when it is active. 100 people can sign-up for each trip challenge and you will be able to see how many spots are available to compete for the trip on the trip page.

There are a few factors that determine the winner of the trip. To enter a trip, you must have at least in Tier 2, which is 250 points and 10 friends invited with your Facebook account or your unique URL (both can be found your profile picture). See below for further details on your unique URL. XploreU interns pick the winner based on the following:

-Points on XU
-Friends invited to XU
-Best application

You will be able to check your current ranking on XU during the competition.

The winner of a trip will be required to meet certain terms and conditions regarding the trip including but not limited to:

-Posting a minimum amount of content (stories, photos, short movies) about their trip on the XploreU website.
-Liking or following their trip's brand sponsor on Facebook and XU.
-Updating friends on Facebook, on campus and XU about the trip and its sponsor leading up to and for a short time after the trip.

Terms and Conditions vary for each trip.

Q.Who picks who gets to go on trips?

A.Tier level, which includes points and XU friends, influences who wins the trip.

Different trips will require varying minimum point totals in order to compete. All trips require, at the minimum, that you are in Tier 2, have invited 10 friends with your Facebook account or unique URL (see the "How do I recruit members?" question for more info below), and will list other specifications if applicable.

Tier brackets are currently defined as:

Tier 1: less than 100 points, less than 10 friends
Tier 2: at least 250 points and 10 friends invited
Tier 3: at least 750 points and 10 friends invited
Tier 4: at least 1000 points and 10 friends invited

The XploreU interns and the sponsoring organization will have the final say and choose the winners, possibly with some influence from the XU community.

Q.How many XU members can go on a trip?

A.The number of people that can go on one trip will change, depending on the trip. As of right now, 1-2 XU members will be going on each trip since we are a start-up and our CEO, Meghan Hoover, is financing all trips. As we continue to grow, many XU members will be able to go on each trip.

Q.What are Cash Contests?

A.Content, expert, story or photo contests. Submissions accepted until the listed deadline. Once the deadline is met, bidding begins. You bid, with points, on the submission you believe is best. If the submission you bid upon receives the most points of all submissions by the bidding deadline, you will double your points. If it does not receive the most points, you lose the points you bid. Contestants who submitted content lose nothing, but have the opportunity to gain all points bid if they win.

Q.Is it whoever has the most points that wins?

A.Yes, for the Cash Contests. The Cash Contest is won by the story or content that receives the most points. Once all the stories and content are posted to a contest, they will open for bidding. The story that is bid on the most will win.

Trip winners are mostly decided by points, aka being extremely active, however your application essay could sway the intern judges.

Q.How do I get more people to see my story for my contest submission?

A.1. Post pictures! People, unfortunately, often tend to judge things by their appearances. The picture that your story features is the first thing they see. If it’s the website default picture or hard to decipher then people will skip right past it. If you don’t have any good pictures to use then try taking some neutral ones around the house or of your hometown.

2. Catchy title / first few words: After the picture, people will see the title of your story and the first few lines that appear underneath the it. Make these the best lines of the story! This is your ‘hook.’ Make your title interesting, but descriptive. Your first sentence should start with an action or dialog to grab peoples attention.

3. Tags: When you post your story there is a box in the upper right hand corner labeled ‘Add tags to this content.’ These are the keywords that will label your story in the database. If you write a story about a flood you were in then tag it with words like: ‘flood, flooding, typhoon, monsoon, flash flood, etc.” Does a tag word have a difficult spelling? Type it in a couple times with common mistakes so those dyslexic folks can find your story too.

4. Does your story have a video? You can embed videos from you tube on xploreu and write stories to go along with them. If you post a video make sure to let people know in your title and in the tags box that your story has a cinema-graphic pedestal.

Q.My pictures wont upload! Whats wrong?

A.Depending on what kind of camera you have and what settings you are using your file size may be too big. You need to reduce the kb of your pic or we may have problems displaying it. When you are submitting photos for a story be sure that the thumbnail image of the picture has appeared in the photo section before submitting your story.

Q.I made a mistake! Can I edit my story after I've posted it?

A.Yes. We have all experienced the feeling of dread having sent an email with information it shouldn't contain. Not so with XploreU. Whether you wrote something you shouldn't have or just need to make a few more tweaks, we have you covered. Just log in, go to your homepage, click on 'my stories', and click 'delete' or 'edit' next to the appropriate story. You have the power!

Q.How do I recruit members?

A.If you signed up with a Facebook account, just click the "Share" button and you'll be automatically connected to your personal Facebook message center. If you didn't sign-up with Facebook, no worries, you can send your unique URL to your friends to have them sign-up.

Q.Free trips? This sounds like a scam! Why are brands and companies interested in giving me trips?

A.Most brands and companies have philanthropic missions that aim toward making our world a better place. These include various initiatives that deal with a variety of issues ranging from community empowerment to cultural exchange and understanding . With every trip XploreU offers including an element of service that is in line with these missions, companies are able to further fulfill them by sending students all over the world.

Upon returning from your travels, you will also have to opportunity to act as a brand ambassador simply by telling others about your awesome experiences abroad through your own social circles and networks.

Q.Are graduating seniors allowed to compete for trips?

A.Yes-but there is some fine print. Graduating seniors may apply for trips, but not trips that will occur past their graduation. Therefore, all seniors who graduate in the spring may not attend trips that occur past March and all seniors who graduate in the fall may not attend trips that occur after the summer before their graduation. It is important that our winners serve as brand ambassadors on campus before and after their trips. Grad students are welcome to apply, as long as they are still on campus and will be able to serve as brand ambassadors.

Q.I can't see my whole Unique URL and I don't have Facebook to send out invites. Help!

A.Just add this before the "//invite" part of the URL and you're good to go: http://www.xploreu.com. For instance, my Unique URL is http://www.xploreu.com//invite/MeghanMartin101399. Questions? Shoot us an email at comments@xploreu.com.

Q.I want to get more involved in XploreU. What can I do?

A.Great- we'd love for you to join our team! We offer internships in many different areas: Business Development, Social Media, Event Planning and Travel Writing. Send your resume along with a cover letter to internships@xploreu.com.