KakaoTalk now has an exclusive community tab for university students, allowing them to connect with verified peers from their own universities and share a wide range of information.

The new "School" tab was recently added to KakoTalk’s Open Chat section, according to Kakao, the company behind the country’s dominant messaging platform, on Thursday.

Currently in its pilot phase, the service offers exclusive-chatrooms for 30 universities, including Seoul National University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Korea University. A list of schools with their own chatrooms can be viewed under the tab. Additional schools will be included to the platform in the future, Kakao said.

Access to each university’s chatroom is limited to students who have verified their enrollment at the respective school through the Talk Student ID.

KakaoTalk issues this ID to students who confirm they are currently enrolled in or have graduated from a specific university or college.

Participants can remain anonymous.

In these exclusive school chat rooms, students can join sub-group chats focused on various topics, such as campus life, job searching, career advice and clubs.

Via the School tab, verified users can also participate in general open chat rooms related to university life and student experiences.

“We expect the latest School tab to foster more active communication among university students and help them expand their connections,” said a Kakao official.

BY WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]