We’re all familiar with popular social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and of course, Facebook. Now there’s a new live-feed app called Yik Yak that is taking the world by storm.
Yik Yak launched in 2013 with the intention of giving a live-streaming conversation page based on location. The way the app works has been relatively unseen from social media apps or websites, locking on to your smart phone’s location or GPS services and showing you what other app users within a 1.5-mile radius are posting.
This geo-social networking site allows users to share their thoughts while still keeping their privacy. Every user logs on anonymously and can write up to 200 characters in a single post.
Another interesting aspect to this app is the voting system that maintains what is trending in your area. Users can give postings “up” votes in approval or “down” votes in disapproval. If a posting receives a negative five rating, the posting is deleted from the site automatically.
This app is still in the very early stages of popularity amongst smartphone users, and being in those stages, there are a fair share of hurdles to overcome. One of the biggest concerns with the app at this point is the amount of negative or offensive things posted on the app. Since everything is posted anonymously, it didn’t take long for people to see an opportunity to exploit this loophole.
When complete strangers are given the opportunity to say anything they want while remaining anonymous, you’re asking for drama to start. Also when the target audience is college campuses and communities, that only adds fuel to the fire. College students are driven and opinionated when it comes to their beliefs or ideas. Unfortunately not everyone shares the same opinions (shocking, I know), thus causing conflicts amongst users.
There are also people who just want to say as many offensive and intentionally rude things about whatever and whomever they want online, sad but unfortunately true. Perhaps the most recent example of this would be the hacking of several celebrity photographs and leaking them out to the world, a shallow act from an obviously classless individual.
All negativity aside, the entertainment this app provides outweighs the offensiveness. It allows people within a close proximity to point out things that either come to mind or pique their interests. It allows people to voice their true selves in a relatively judgment-free zone.
There will always be those users whose only intent is to criticize and antagonize other Yakkers online. These few immature children shouldn’t ruin the fun for the rest of us Yik Yak users. At the end of the day, Yik Yak is a fun new way for people to stay connected with those around them and should be used as such.