This Hoo-Built App Is Helping Make Social Media Feel More Real
UVA alumnus Omar Zeineddine and fourth-year Karam Aboul Hosn are building Vlogit, a social media app centered on real-time, everyday moments — and have already grown an audience of nearly 250,000 people behind their vision.
Seven months after announcing they were building a social media app centered on real-time, everyday moments, University of Virginia alumnus Omar Zeineddine and fourth-year student Karam Aboul Hosn have grown an audience of nearly 250,000 people behind their vision for Vlogit.
## The Idea: Authentic Moments, Not Highlight Reels
Vlogit is built around one simple rule: every day, someone in your friend group gets picked, and they have until midnight to vlog it all. The catchphrase has already taken on a life of its own online.
"Social media has become very staged," Aboul Hosn said. "People only post the best versions of themselves online, so we wanted to give people the opportunity to share their most authentic selves with their friends."
The idea sparked back in July, when Zeineddine reached out to Aboul Hosn on a random night and asked what he wished he'd done more of in college. Both realized how hard it had become to stay genuinely connected with friends amid busy schedules.
## The Founders
Zeineddine, a 2025 graduate of UVA's College of Arts & Sciences, studied computer science with plans to become a software engineer — entrepreneurship was never the plan. "I never in my life thought that I would fully commit to a business," he said.
Aboul Hosn, a fourth-year in the College who took a semester off to focus on Vlogit, also studied computer science. He first caught the building bug in an intro CS course and shipped his first app, "Clubs," to help students navigate joining organizations on Grounds.
## Going All-In
The two went all-in on Vlogit in mid-September with around 40,000 followers. Since then, they've more than tripled their reach, grown their waitlist past 50,000 people, and started expanding their investor network.
To keep their audience engaged through the build, they produce short comedic videos and skits — riffing on everything from verification codes to squashing bugs. "Sometimes I'll hold up a giant avocado or wear a bacon costume," Zeineddine said.
"For the first time in my life, I don't know where I'm going to be next year, let alone next month," Zeineddine added. "Vlogit has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of new people while pouring my all into something."
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Originally published by UVA News. Written by Christina Abouzeki. Photos by Lathan Goumas, University Communications.