Yik Yak

[Flurp]

How do you feel about this viral app?
For those of you who don't know what Yik Yak is: It's an smartphone app where you can post anonymously about things that are happening around you. It's used widely on college campuses.

 

[acebatonfan]

Even though we are granted freedom of speech through the first amendment, I feel like the app is allowing people to intentionally bully without fears of being reprimanded. I can easily go on and mention something about another person or participate in acts that could get me expelled from my university. It's designed for college students, but it's possible that someone can go onto it after an examination and post test questions (and/or answers) and not worry about being found out and punished.

There needs to be something added internally to help prevent users from abusing it. Even doing something as simple as allowing the app to access some sort of personal identification such as that cell phone number or requiring users link it to a facebook/twitter account (can easily be added into the ToS so no legal issues can arise) to their account information (not displayed when communicating through the app) will guarantee that people will be punished if they use the app to do something illegally.

 

[Andrew]

I use it and I haven't seen any major issues with it. Sure, there may be bullying on it but the people who bully others on there are just too scared to say something to the persons face (in my opinion).

 

[Whispered]

Even though we are granted freedom of speech through the first amendment, I feel like the app is allowing people to intentionally bully without fears of being reprimanded. I can easily go on and mention something about another person or participate in acts that could get me expelled from my university. It's designed for college students, but it's possible that someone can go onto it after an examination and post test questions (and/or answers) and not worry about being found out and punished.

There needs to be something added internally to help prevent users from abusing it. Even doing something as simple as allowing the app to access some sort of personal identification such as that cell phone number or requiring users link it to a facebook/twitter account (can easily be added into the ToS so no legal issues can arise) to their account information (not displayed when communicating through the app) will guarantee that people will be punished if they use the app to do something illegally.

Anything you can do on your phone is traceable. It all goes through a cell tower (or wifi network), both of which should (if the company is reputable) be keeping records of the interactions done through them. Now getting that information is hard...

 

[Kirito]

it sounds like a diary thats open to everyone.. dont really like the idea but it is what it is, it could be useful for people who have issues that they want to say but they cant in real life