LinkedIn shares the same features of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter — timelines, chat boxes and status updates. Yet despite its large number of users, LinkedIn has somehow avoided controversy regarding the toxic online culture it perpetuates.

Ambi, a Boston-based startup with a Boston University graduate on its team, is designing an academic platform that the company says will better engage students by mimicking the social media sites they already use and allow them to better interact with their peers online.