“Posting to Texas.” These are the three words that pop up on a UT students screen when they make an anonymous post on the popular social media app, Yik Yak. The app launched in 2013 and gained success by allowing anonymous messaging to and from users within a 5-mile radius. After making an account with a university email address, a user can post under the username of their college, without their name or photo being shown. Understandably, this often leads to cyberbullying and targeted comments against students, but it also leads to college students coming together over circumstances like the inconvenience of poor weather or a professor not canceling class for a holiday.
The app has faced serious controversy in the past due to cyberbullying and harassment, ultimately leading to it being shut down in 2017. The company that owns the app, Block Inc., relaunched the app in 2021 with new community guidelines in place to limit the amount of bullying on the app.
I posted a poll on Yik Yak asking UT users, “Does Yik Yak unite college students or tear them apart even more?” It got a total of 148 votes, with 67% voting “tears” and 33% voting “unites.”
One of the reasons the majority of UT Yik Yak users voted “tears students apart,” is likely because of the prevalence of very divisive posts that slander campus organizations. UT Greek life, for example, is a very controversial topic on Yik Yak. Both people within these organizations and outside of them have posted hate comments about Greek life. The anonymity of Yik Yak only intensifies these discussions, as users may feel more inclined to express strong opinions or engage in confrontational behavior without revealing their identity.
“As a member of a sorority at UT and avid Yik Yak user, I am very used to seeing posts about my sorority,” said UT freshman, Lily Panagos. “These tend to be on the negative side, but I don’t let it get to me because literally every Greek life chapter gets negative posts made about them. I think it’s important to be able to laugh it off because you never know who is behind the screen.”
While some feel like the app is divisive, others feel that Yik Yak can have a positive impact by fostering community on a university campus. It allows users to feel acknowledged for their ideas among other anonymous peers.
University of Texas freshman, Chiara Nandapurkar, explained that YikYak is a place where people can commiserate about anything from campus policies to bad dining hall dishes.
“Generally, the posts with a lot of upvotes are people agreeing with something and finding it funny, even if it is negative,” Nandapurkar said. “I think that sometimes, people complaining about the same things, in some strange way, validates them and makes them feel less alone and heard.”
Under the name Texas, Chiara has had several of her posts get over a thousand upvotes on Yik Yak. Her most popular post has 1.2 thousand upvotes and counting.
“I feel like people aren’t afraid to express their thoughts and opinions because of the anonymity of it and then getting upvotes sort of validates their niche thoughts sometimes,” Chiara said.
Yik Yak provides a unique outlet for people to express themselves and have candid conversations with others who attend the same college. However, it’s a double-edged sword in terms of fostering unity or division within the campus community. As the app continues evolving and adding more community guidelines, its users also need to be accountable for their digital footprints. This will allow platforms like Yik Yak to fulfill their potential as spaces for meaningful connection and discourse among college students.