Ever thought about how much better posting to Facebook or Twitter would be if you could do it anonymously? Well, fear no more; Yik Yak has the answer to all of your problems.
“I think it [Yik Yak] is great,” plastics major Alex Livingston said. “It’s relevant because provides a platform for the anonymous expression of ideas that other places don’t.”
According to Yik Yak’s lead community developer, Cam Mullen, it would appear that a sizeable segment of Ferris’ own students are very aware of the mobile app as an “insane” 23 percent of Ferris’ undergrad population are actively posting.
“What makes [Yik Yak] different from other social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter is that the app is mobile based,” said Mullen. “You don’t have to be part of any community or have followers, you can talk about anything on your mind right in the moment.”
Users of the app are allowed to post anonymously, which has caused concern and even led some schools banning Yik Yak, claiming that it promotes bullying, with the Huffington Post even going as far as to publish an article called “Why Your College Should Ban Yik Yak.”
“We’re aware of what happens on the app,” Mullen said. “We’ve stepped up to try and decrease negative comments. We’ve made it so that app can’t be accessed on high school grounds.” According to Mullen, the app was created for use by college age students and above, not for minors and high school students. “It’s meant for adults,” Mullen said. “We’re trying to make that clear.”
Users of the app though disagree about the negatives effects of the apps anonymity.
“I think it’s great that it’s anonymous,” Livingston said. “Most people get it and don’t name other or call out people or use the app to prank people.”
“The app is fun,” Mullen admitted, but he said that in the future he hoped Yik Yak would evolve into something that everyone can use. “Yik Yak can give you a realtime insight that other media apps can’t. Eventually we want Yik Yak to be something that people tap into like any other news source because of this advantage. People could find what’s going on around them, or at the Oscars or the Gaza Strip. That’s how we want it to evolve.”
Yik Yak can be downloaded for free on iPhone and Android devices.