What is all the Yak about?

by Elizabeth Lemuz

PR Daily

I just recently read an article on PR Daily discussing an app called Yik Yak. I have heard students talk about this app and the concept behind it, but I personally have never used it. The article is discussing how this app may become the new “Facebook”. The app was introduced on November 2013 and the app’s popularity has been increasing since.

There are many apps that start off not being very popular and then become the next best thing within a few days. The article shares positive and negative sides to this app. One of the positive sides would be it is becoming a very popular app on college campuses. A negative aspect the article talks about is the increase in cyberbullying. Yik Yak allows anyone to post anything anonymously to this social web within a 10-mile radius. There is no profile picture or real name that is used in the app. Just like any other social media network, there are high risks. Anyone can be attacked on the Internet because there is too much leeway today. There are ways of tracing anything that is posted online, and I don’t think that because it is anonymous, it is any different. This new app can be dangerous if bullying is present, but it can also be prevented and stopped.

I don’t think that Yik Yak can become the new Facebook, like the article is stating. Yes, it is increasing in popularity, but anonymous posts on the Internet aren’t always a smart choice. It all comes down to being smart on the Internet. The audience that Yik Yak is attracting right now are college students. This age group tends to make wiser choices. College students still make mistakes, but they seem to be a little smarter about the Internet when compared to high school students.  

In the article by TIME, there is insight from a 16-year-old and what life on Yik Yak at that age is really like. The student doesn’t necessarily like the app “but she says she can’t quit it because she feels like she’ll be missing out on conversations her friends and classmates are having. There is no need for high school kids to be on any type of social media, but it’s what these new generations do. Our world today is surrounded by technology and all its glory. Social media is what everyone is on and the new way of communicating. This is why actual face-to-face communication is becoming awkward.

Will Yik Yak become the new hot app everyone is on? That is for all of us to decide. When we decide to jump on the bandwagon and do as others, we help that topic increase in popularity. Look at what happened with #TheDress!

Citations:

“Could Yik Yak be the next Facebook?.” PR Daily. Ragan Communications, 2015. Web. http://prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/18215.aspx

“You asked: What Is Yik Yak?.” TIME. TIME, 2015. Web. http://time.com/3694578/you-asked-what-is-yik-yak/