DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SECURE COLLEGE-CENTRIC SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORM USING MERN STACK

This paper presents a secure, college-centric academic social networking platform that addresses challenges such as fragmented communication, lack of institutional security, and unstructured collaboration in higher education environments. The system is developed using the MERN stack, incorporating MongoDB for scalable data storage, Express.js and Node.js for backend services, and React.js for a responsive user interface. JWT-based authentication ensures verified access restricted to institutional users, while real-time communication is enabled through Socket.io. The platform supports core academic networking functionalities including user profile management, content and post sharing, friend-based networking, real-time messaging, and notification services within a controlled ecosystem. The system architecture follows the Model–View–Controller (MVC) design pattern, enabling modular development, scalability, and maintainability. Experimental deployment demonstrates improved communication efficiency, secure data handling, and enhanced user engagement. The proposed platform provides a reliable foundation for academic collaboration and can be extended to support intelligent recommendation, mentorship, and analytics-driven academic services.

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