Anonymity is the internet’s most sacred asset. The freedom to say anything, to ignore the draconian social rules of everyday life, is what made the anonymous messaging application Yik Yak popular after its initial launch in 2013. The app shut down in 2017 after cyberbullying concerns, but in August of this year, Yik Yak re-appeared in app stores. This Yik Yak is a buggy yet functional reincarnation of its previous self — the app centers around “yaks,” text posts with a 200-character limit shown to anyone within a five-mile radius. Users can upvote or downvote posts, and enough upvotes can earn yaks a spot on the “Local Top Yaks”; yaks that receive more than five downvotes are hidden from the feed. Each poster is nameless; the only way to tell users apart is from their representative emoji randomly chosen by the app — this can be changed at any time.
Whether it’s from the nostalgia of the 2010s, the excitement of returning to campus after a year and a half or the innate desire to connect with people, the Ann Arbor Yik Yak bubble has been populated with hundreds, possibly thousands, of University of Michigan students. From South Quad to the UGLi to North Campus to the Blue Leprechaun, Ann Arbor’s pandemic-weary student body has yikked every yak, putting every fleeting thought on blast no matter how obscene. It’s unclear exactly how many people actively use Yik Yak, but the archive of “Local Top Yaks” gives an idea — the most popular yak in the area exceeds 450 upvotes, which doesn’t account for the additional downvotes the post may have received or the users who simply didn’t interact.
Over the last s ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
