When you downloaded Yik Yak, the chances are, you mindlessly checked the box “I agree to the Terms and Conditions” without actually reading any of the terms or conditions.
On the long list of these Terms and Conditions, it states “By way of example, and not as a limitation, you will not directly or indirectly transmit any pornographic, obscene, offensive, threatening, harassing, libelous, hate-oriented, harmful, defamatory, racist, illegal, or otherwise objectionable material or content.” And the list goes on and on.
If you ask any user of Yik Yak, and the users range from high school students to adults in the workplace, they will tell you that the app is used for precisely that.
Created 5 months ago by college grads Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll, Yik Yak is meant to be a “local bulletin board for your area,” according to its description on the iTunes App Store. It allows users to post comments anonymously onto a feed that can be viewed by people within a five-mile radius of whoever made the post.
Users can then promote or demote the post depending on whether they like it or not, and if more people promote the post, the more people can see it for a longer period of time.
Though Yik Yak isn’t nearly as popular as Facebook, the co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center Justin Patchin said in a blog post, it can be considered an alternative to the latter that parents, grandparents and teachers are all on.
“[Teens] are looking for an alternative place to hang out and communicate without adults looking over their virtual shoulders,” he posted. “Yik Yak has apparently served that purpose for some.”
Because Yik Yak creates such an easy tool to cyberbully others, high schools around the country, specifically in Chicago, have banned the app using geocensors, or identified boundaries of middle schools or high schools based on GPS coordinates that the app simply won’t work within, according to Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center.
“This shows me that the app creators aren’t interested in students using it improperly,” Hinduja said. “But what else can the app possibly be used for apart from that?”
There are benefits of being able to post anonymously, and there are other applications like Whisper and Secret created for this reason, according to Hinduja. “The purpose of those apps is all about anonymity and bearing your soul,” he said. “ Hopefully when you bury your soul, it’s this cathartic benefit to you where you can get it off your chest and share with the world, but not in the way that leads to cyberbullying.”
Because Yik Yak posts are based on your geographical location, Hinduja says people often know whom you’re talking about when you use proper names, creating the perfect environment for cyberbullying.
“I think any time new technology comes out its going to be used in ways that people might not initially anticipate,” Kevin Rudd, a sophomore business major, said.
According to Hinduja, apps like this always die away, and the dominant aspect of an app needs to be positive for longevity.
“Its creators wanted to initially have it for college students and adults to just be bold,” he said. “But as you can see, the dominant use is negative.”
According to junior journalism major Gabe Katzman, Yik Yak is already dying down.
“There was a peak where everyone was using it,” he said. “And now we’re at the point where people find it boring.”
At the University of Maryland, and other campuses in the nation, Greek life has become a main topic of conversation with posts like “Phi Tau is only relevant in the graffiti on mck’s study cubbies,” and “just saw some Fiji dude helping a chick paint a cooler. Whipped or friendzoned?”
As if there wasn’t a stigma around Greek life already, Yik Yak is creating a place to disseminate Greek stereotypes about each fraternity and sorority, sophomore journalism major Michelle Leibowitz says.
While the Greek community is supposed to be a tight knit group of students, sophomore Emily Platte says Yik Yak reiterates the idea this is simply untrue.
“Everyone talk badly about one another and makes fun of other chapters,” Platte said. “They also restate a lot of stereotypes, like calling certain sororities slutty, creating labels for each chapter.”
Posts with general comments about a fraternity or sorority and not against a specific individual wouldn’t be considered cyberbullying, but just juvenile and immature, according to Hinduja.
Students like senior agriculture and resource economics major Adam Rahll don’t write in the app but simply read it for entertainment.
“I think its funny,” Rahll said. “But it’s just a way for people to be coy.”
Kaley Smith, a freshman finance major, is one of the many people who have been personally victimized on Yik Yak for simply being in a sorority.
“I think it’s a fun idea how they use it at other schools to bash the school and make jokes about the campus,” Smith said. “But once you start bringing in specific people and trashing sororities to a rude extent it loses its purpose and playful nature, and people just get hurt.”