Yik Yakkin’

Disclaimer

While YikYak can be seen as a harmless entertainment app, meeting up with anyone from an app is dangerous and can have serious consequences.

beating out of my chest, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe meeting up with an anonymous stranger wasn’t my brightest idea.

like Tinder, or social media like Instagram. I had done that before. But as I fidgeted anxiously with my rings and scanned the crowd nervously, I realized this was a completely unique experience.

I didn’t even know who I was looking for.

I was meeting up with someone from YikYak, a social media app that allows people to post anonymous comments within a five-mile radius. Recently, they added a direct messaging feature, which allowed me to set up this interview. I had wanted to talk to an active YikYak user, but I was now wondering if it was worth it.

With YikYak, it’s not just used by college students. Anyone in a 5 mile radius could be on there, so that art major you’re talking to could be a 38-year-old creep. Catfishing becomes a million times easier on anonymous apps, and predators might take advantage of YikYak, since they know it’s widely used by college students.

I still remember the first time I heard about YikYak, shortly after it had returned to UO’s campus in fall 2021. After being removed due to racism and cyberbullying, the app was reinstated with “Community Guardrails” to try and keep the platform clean of inflammatory language. Plus, the app is controlled by “upvotes” and “downvotes.” If a post receives more than five downvotes, it is automatically removed.

I avoided the app at first because, as I told my friends, it seemed like “a disaster waiting to happen.” Anyone can post anything, and there’s almost no consequences. But as more and more of my friends began using the app, I wanted to be in the loop, and frankly, I was curious.

A quick perusal of the app will show you a variety of content. From my experience, most comments revolve around things happening on campus, party locations, jokes, sexual content, and people trying to meet up. Before this interview, I had never met up with anyone from the app, nor did I ever have any intention to.

I knew nothing about this person, other than their emoticon. They told me they were a student at UO, but for all I know that could have been a complete lie. Doing an interview with a stranger is always nerve wracking, but at least I normally know their name. What if they’re a murderer? Someone I know? A past lover? This is true investigative journalism right here, all in the name of Align Magazine.

My interviewee shows up and to my relief, they’re not a murderer, but a freshman, who wished to remain anonymous. For the sake of clarity, I will refer to him as John. After downloading YikYak in mid-September, he has now become a pretty consistent user of the app, mainly due to its concept.

“There’s a different kind of draw for everybody,” John said. “For example, this [interview] is part of why I think it’s cool. There are cool opportunities to be found.”

John said sometimes they will go weeks forgetting about the app, but find themselves sucked in when they do return.

“The times I’ve come back to it after long breaks are out of boredom,” John said. “I will say, it is easy to scroll through and have a laugh at some of the stupid shit that is on there.”

John said there is a lot of bad content, but if you filter through, there’s useful information.

“I’ve gotten advice on there, tips about campus, and sometimes people ask about date spots,” John said. “There are gems, you have to dig for them, but there’s cool stuff in there.”

While this was my first time meeting someone off of YikYak, it wasn’t John’s. He had once watched “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with some people from YikYak.

“It was spontaneous so that was sick,” John said. “We watched a movie and got some snacks.”

John said that he doesn’t use YikYak to get things off his chest, more so to make jokes, but he could understand that many people use it to vent.

“From a psychological perspective, I could see how some could continue using something and then start making fun of it, because they know it’s taboo and out of insecurity,” John said. “I know for a lot of people YikYak is an outlet where they can feel anonymous and disguised so they can say whatever they want.”

While John himself uses the app, he wouldn’t advise anyone else to.

“Most of the times that I tell people about YikYak, I tell them don’t use it, it’s not something I think anybody should use,” John said with a laugh.

I couldn’t help but agree, there’s a lot of negativity on the app. While it does provide mind numbing entertainment, for me, the constant stream of negative emotion ruins the fun, and the complete anonymity of the app adds an extra layer of danger. Still, John tells me I should stay on the app.

And with that, my anonymous meetup concludes.

While my experience meeting up with someone anonymously via YikYak went somewhat well, I also took precautions to ensure my safety. I met up with them during the day, at a busy location, and let my friends know what was going on and where I was. Whenever taking something from online to in-person, it’s important to take the same steps, as safety is the number one priority.

WRITTEN BY ELLA NORTON