YikYak is a currently trending app. This is all becuase of the anonymous feature that YikYak offers. Users within a 5 mile radius can see what others are saying near by. Allowing posts to be private, users can post whatever they please, within the community guidelines.
Background:
YikYak was founded by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington in 2013. The two started the app as a hobby. The app was thought of to let university students gossip about each other. Although since it was started to gossip and create drama, the app was shut down in 2017 due to bullying and problematic content.
Limitations:
With YikYak there is something you can do that is similar to “liking” a post. It is called “upvote” or “downvote.” This means that if you upvote you like the post and downvoting means you dislike it. If a post gets a certain amount of downvotes it will be reviewed and possibly taking down, since YikYak has a downvote policy in place. There is free speech on the app however because of this downvote policy people can get your posts taken down or reviewed if they dont agree or like it. Also even though this isn’t a limitation in the app I think it is good to mention that a bad thing that can come from an anonymous app like this is bullying. Although they have tried to combat this there can be long-lasting affects to someone or their reputation if they are bullied on the app.
Recommendations:
I would recommend this app because I find it more as entertainment. I am a current user but I do not interact or post at all. I just read and see what others are saying. I find it extremely funny and haven’t seen to much bullying if anything I would consider it more slander to organizations not people themselves. If you can understand that this is just for fun and most of the things people post aren’t true and they post to start drama it can be very fun to be apart of.
Works cited:
https://thenextweb.com/news/brief-history-yikyak-anonymous-platform
https://thenextweb.com/news/brief-history-yikyak-anonymous-platform