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On May 21^st, ST Unitas, an edutech company announced that it has beta launched a new SNS (social network service) named TACA, exclusively for educational purposes, via Android Market.

TACA is a mobile platform which encourages students to develop good study habits on their own by having them achieve their study goals and upload pictures. Students share information and also participate in challenges with friends who share the same goals and support each other to complete such challenges. The name of the new service, TACA, is an abbreviation for “take a picture and capture time”, well reflecting the service’s purpose which is to record daily efforts aimed at achieving personal goals.

According to ST Unitas, the company launched the first social network service in the education industry due to the trend among teenagers of uploading what they studied on Instagram. TACA enables students to share study related photos as well as their goals and resolutions with friends. This service is also meaningful as ST Unitas has already been offering AI-based edutech services to middle and high school students through SKYEDU, and is now further expanding its business to include network platforms.

Students log into TACA and upload pictures of their daily study plan, how much they completed that plan, study notes, workbook, grades, etc., so that they can share such information with others and also receive feedback. Users have access to various information as well, since academies, study rooms, teachers, workbooks are all tagged with the pictures. “Challenge” is a short-term event in which students are able to participate. For example, previous Challenges include “Waking Up at 7AM”, “Memorizing 50 English Words”, etc. helping students with the same goals to complete the challenge together.

When uploading photos, the service provides convenient functions such as automatic date and time of the upload, to further motivate students to study according to their daily plans. Other functions optimized for middle and high students include friend recommendations based on age, goal, and region, as well as “Stamps” which can be used to compliment or encourage other users.

To promote the beta launch of TACA, events are being held. Members who download TACA via Google Play and join by May 31^st will receive mobile vouchers for a Hershey Chocolate Drink.

Gwanbaek Kim of CONECTS BU at ST Unitas remarked, “TACA is an Instagram-style network exclusively for middle and high school students, who are a generation of mobile natives. As students enjoy sharing information on how much and how they studied, the service enables them to develop good study habits and at the same time offer a platform where all kinds of knowledge regarding studying can be shared. We are planning to develop the service so that people with all types of goals in education, sports, hobbies, etc. can share their achievements, making TACA an expansive social platform.