Breanna Daugherty is a sophomore photojournalism major and writes ‘In BRiEf’ for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper or The Daily. Write to Breanna at bldaughtery2@bsu.edu.
With its anonymous features and Twitter-Reddit mixture, the app Yik Yak is a new way for college students to procrastinate.
Yik Yak is a social media app that targets college students and allows them to gossip and post anonymously about their lives.
Users can downvote or upvote posts by others in their location. The app uses geolocation to put users in a group to specify what yaks they see and who sees their yaks.
On the downside, yaks do expire, normally within the hour; depending on how often people yak that day. Once yaks expire, you can no longer see what you upvoted or downvoted, but you can always see your yaks and how many votes they received.
On the other hand, the expiration makes it hard to leave the app without fear of missing something, thus making it more addicting to users.
The main problem with the expiration is potential to miss out on ongoing trends.One night, I saw only part of two yakkers yakking at each other, and I didn’t understand what was happening. But because the yaks had already expired, I couldn’t see the beginning of the conversation to get the gist of it.
Unfortunately, some conversations and posts can go too far. There have been instances where yakkers made terror threats on the app.
However, the geolocation has aided police in arresting these yakkers. According to Alabama Media Group, Yik Yak developers helped officials find them by releasing their cell phone information to track it to their address.
The geolocation is a great feature that shows what’s happening around you without cluttering your feed, but Yik Yak does more than just keep track of that. Yik Yak also keeps track of all submitted content and your digital footprint, among other things.
This shouldn’t surprise most users because Facebook and Twitter keep track of the same information.
Just because you post on an anonymous app doesn’t mean people still can’t figure out it’s you.
Still, it’s easy to exaggerate and stretch the truth when you’re not attributed to the post
Because of this, Yik Yak is not practical for facts and information. It’s just for fun. I’ve said, and heard, too many times, “I saw it on Yik Yak.” Just because it’s on this app doesn’t mean it’s true.
I have some friends that like that aspect of not being attributed to their post, as well as friends that don’t like the anonymous factor.
I understand always wanting to know who is posting what, but sometimes it’s fun to see what people you don’t know are saying.
Because of the anonymity, people post crazier things and are more open, which can make the app more fun for users. Students can connect with each other through this app in a less filtered way than they would in a classroom. The anonymity makes the app stand out.
Although this app is fun now, it may eventually fizzle out and lose its popularity.
What’s going to happen during the summer? Fewer people will be on college campuses. Not everyone’s hometown has a college, so people in your hometown probably won’t be on the app, making it less active and enjoyable. In this case, the geolocation factor may make the app less sustainable.
This app can be fun when you’re at college and want to procrastinate on homework or studying, but don’t push your limited anonymity.
Pros:
Since it is anonymous, people can post whatever they want, leading to entertaining, racier posts.
The interface is easy to use, and it looks visually appealing.
It loads fairly quickly for the most part.
You can look at other colleges to see what students there are posting.
You have the choice of upvoting, downvoting and reporting things you do or don’t want to see.
It’s good to waste time and it can be funny.
It doesn’t take a lot of space on your phone.
The lack of posting photos on Yik Yak can prevent seeing gross images.
Available for iOS and Android.
Cons:
Since it is anonymous, people will post whatever they want, which can lead to some offensive posts.
There are a lot of curse words used, which some people may dislike.
When looking at other colleges you can’t reply, upvote or downvote.
When you’re in an area not around Ball State, no one from Ball State will see your yaks.
Yaks expire, so you won’t be able to see them on your feed.
It’s not always trustworthy.
You can’t change your upvote/downvote.
Since you can’t post pictures, you can’t always see what people are talking about.
Yaks are only in a 10-mile radius.
Rating: 7/10
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