Difference between revisions of "Yik Yak"

Revision as of 06:26, 15 February 2016

Yik Yak

Yik Yak website www.yikyak.com Type Anonymous social media Launch Date November, 2013 Status Active Product Line Yik Yak Platform iOS application Android Website www.yikyak.com

Yik Yak is a location-based social media application that was developed by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington. They created this application with the goal, "to create a way for people to instantly connect with everyone around them. As of now, Yik Yak is now located in over 2000 campuses across the United States"^[1].

Yik Yak works off anonymous submissions from people within a 5-mile proximity. The main page consists of a refreshable feed of posts users have made. Yik Yak prefers to call their posts "yaks". As a user you are allowed to upvote, downvote, and comment on these yaks^[2]. If your yak gets enough upvotes, it will be put under the "Hot" tab, which is where the most popular yaks are put. On the other hand, if your yak gets 5 more downvotes compared to upvotes, your yak will be removed from the public feed. The user will build up yakarma as they do more of these actions.

History

Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington first came up the idea for this app when they attended Furman University. Droll and Buffington were intrigued by anonymous Twitter accounts that were catered specifically to the Furman campus, and they wanted to recreate this experience in a phone application^[3]. However, it was not until they graduated when they wanted take their idea more seriously. During January of 2014, Yik Yak started picking up more steam Atlanta Capital, which was an investment firm, decided to invest $20,000 into Yik Yak^[4]. During April of 2014, Yik Yak closed a $1.5 million and later a $10 million dollar investment deal with Vaizra Investments, with participation from DCM, Azure Capital Partners and other angels^[5]. Yik Yak has had tremendous success, but its growth in popularity and support has been flatlining recently.

Similar Applications

Whisper

Whisper is an iOS and Android phone application that was released on March 31, 2012. Whisper allows users to send messages anonymously and receive replies. Whenever you post a message on Whisper, you have to choose a background picture and provide text that is overlaid onto that picture. The Whisper application has been criticized for requiring access to smartphone features such as the camera and contact list even though it is not necessarily needed. Their privacy policy says that they reserve the right to turn over any information if any law enforcement has the jurisdiction to do so^[6]. Fakhoury elaborated that: "You have to be very careful about selling a program as a secure way to secretly communicate, and then reserve the right to turn over that information whenever necessary^[7]."

Nearby

Nearby is an iOS and Android phone application that was originally launched in June, 2010. This application was designed to help people make friends with people located nearby. Using the user's GPS capabilities on their phone, they would compile a list of other users. The service allows for private text messaging, photo messaging, virtual gifts, and profiles. There is also a public “Live Stream” feature, which is very similar to Facebook’s News Feed.^[8]. Their newsfeed is very similar in style to that of Yik Yak.

Secret

Features

Photo Sharing

During July 15, 2015 Yik Yak started allowing users to post photos. However, Yik Yak moderates the photos before they are actually posted. Their guidelines are that you should not post inappropriate photos (anything you wouldn’t send to your mother), illegal content, or faces will be allowed in local feeds"^[9]. Before they actually released this feature, they gave a few communities the ability to share photos earlier in order to provide feedback and ideas that they could use.

Peek

During October, 2014 Yik Yak released the feature that allowed users to view other Yik Yak community feeds. Particularly, you were only allowed to peek into US and international colleges.

Herd/Basecamp

On May 15, 2015 Yik Yak released the ability for users to set a basecamp for their yak feed. With this users would be able to set their yak feed to a certain location even though they are not actually in that area. Once you set up your herd, you will have the capability to switch between posting in your local feed or your "My Herd" feed."^[10]. Many users have wanted a way to still wanted to be apart of their campus herd, even though they were studying abroad or away for the summer. Also, this new update allows users to now see trending locations, local and global herds allowed for more exploration within the community.

Ethical Implications

Bullying & Cyberbullying

References

1. ↑ "about." Yik Yak. https://www.yikyak.com/about
2. ↑ "features." Yik Yak. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yik_Yak
3. ↑ "Yik Yak inspiration." Yik Yak. http://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-yik-yak/slide/5/
4. ↑ "Yik Yak investment." Yik Yak. http://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-yik-yak/slide/7/
5. ↑ "Yik Yak investment." Yik Yak. http://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-yik-yak/slide/16/
6. ↑ "Whisper Privacy." Whisper. http://blog.yikyak.com/blog/introducing-photos
7. ↑ "Fakhoury Whisper." Whisper. http://www.wired.com/2014/05/whistleblowers-beware/
8. ↑ "About WNM Live" URL accessed April 22, 2013.
9. ↑ "Photo guidelines." Yik Yak. https://blog.yikyak.com/blog/introducing-photos
10. ↑ "My Herd." Yik Yak. http://blog.yikyak.com/blog/basecamp