Yik Yak is a social media app where all users can post anonymously on boards of certain topics. It is popularly used by colleges for students to discuss campus activities, and WSU is no exception. The impact of the app on life at WSU may be small compared to bigger campuses, but exploring it is still worthwhile.
About the app
Yik Yak is an infamous app among larger campuses, or smaller communities where the app holds high importance.
In an academic paper, The Resurrection of Yik Yak, Lily Neher explores some of the draws of the app, as well as what changes have been made since the original launch. It describes cases of cyberbullying and survivors of sexual assault coming together online.
"In exploring the appeal of location-based apps like Yik Yak, one can articulate the significance of online communities in academia and see why Yik Yak is able to highlight aspects of the student experience in unique ways. Through upvotes and downvotes, users are able to self-moderate content depending on the given communities’ opinion of what crosses the line," Neher writes.
Delaney Myers is a freshman elementary education major. She often uses it to stay up to date on campus activities.
"It's just, like, entertaining," Myers said. "I just scroll it sometimes."
Jasmine Crites is a junior majoring in elementary education. She recently deleted Yik Yak after using it for around two years.
"When I first started college, I thought it was cool and everyone had it. Then I started using it less, and it became less and less fun. I started seeing how it was negatively affecting me and others, so I got rid of it," Crites said.
Crites shared that she used to read up on students' opinions on Greek life, as well as reading the drama between people and their roommates. She said that if a lot of things changed about the way that WSU students use the platform, it could be helpful for the community.
Messages on Yik Yak
Most users who post on the WSU page are asking timely questions, such as why sirens are going off or what events are happening on campus, to which they will sometimes receive answers. Recently, there have been conversations and debates about bathrooms on campus, as well as individual complaints and comments, including about sanitary practices.
"Do the Hangar people know that BOTH hands have to have gloves on before touching food?" one user asked.
Sometimes, people will use the anonymity of the app to their advantage, and get advice from other students.
"Anyone else been going through a massive depressive episode lately?" one user asked. In response, one user related, while another referred the poster to WSU's Counseling and Wellness Services, which is a positive thing to see.
With the ability to say what they are feeling without others knowing who is speaking, there is an ability for users to discuss the important issues that are on their minds without fear of backlash in their personal lives. This can include topics of identity, whether it be religious, gender or sexual identity.
"As a Christian saying this, the amount of Christians bombarding people on campus is insane. Let us live," one person said, receiving over twenty upvotes.
For the WSU page of Yik Yak, twenty upvotes is a lot. This topic overall receives high engagement on the page, mostly about people sharing their frustrations at how prevalent this is in their campus experience. There are a lot of posts made regarding this, which could mean multiple people are posting, or one individual is doing so quite regularly and successfully.
Yik Yak's place in WSU
Currently, the WSU Yik Yak space is fairly inactive, and this seems to be a good thing. While there is potential for anonymous platforms to benefit communities, they are oftentimes misused, as can be seen from researching the app's history.
Because of this, the low population on Yik Yak keeps the space a generally positive space for some students to feel connected to other students' anonymous opinions. Some find it to be entertaining, while others find it to be more negative for their campus experience.
If you choose to download and interact with Yik Yak, make sure to keep it a positive space for other WSU students.
