Swiping aimlessly for drama about fellow classmates? Sounds like a dream come true. Did I mention everything is anonymous? YikYak is back and redownloaded after a brief hiatus from the popularity it had in 2013. The popular platform allows users to post anonymously for anyone in a 5 mile radius to see. While back in 2013 the app was popular on college campuses, we all used it in the halls of middle school. Now, YikYak is back, especially at Tulane.
YikYak allows for users to post, comment, and “upvote” all without a trace, which makes the app so popular for gossiping and saying anything that comes to mind. Students share their plans for nights out, confess their love for random people spotted across campus, keep up with the scores of the football games among various other topics.
Following the evacuation for Ida, many Tulane students were dispersed together at other colleges. I went to University Of Texas at Austin and decided to open up YikYak while there. Surprisingly, most of the posts were from other Tulane students who also evacuated to Austin. Besides some posts from annoyed Texas students wondering why there were so many Tulane kids roaming the campus, YikYak was overrun with Tulanians. One has to wonder if this app is really on the rise back to the popularity it had in 2013 or if this school has just decided to bring it back. Like many students, I visited a couple other schools while home for the past few weeks and their YikYaks were also lacking.
Perhaps Tulane students really wanted a taste of that middle school nostalgia. Or they wanted a platform to anonymously talk about people and organizations at the school with no repercussions. Whatever the reason is, I’m glad YikYak is back.
Cover photo: Tech Crunch
