- Yik Yak is a social media smartphone app launched in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington. The company was valued at $400 million in 2014 but was shut down less than three years later.
- Yik Yak was immensely popular with school and college-age students, frequently associated with cyberbullying and threats of violence. Once functionality was disabled on school grounds, the app experienced a catastrophic user decline.
- Belated attempts to make the app safer and user-friendly could not stop it from being shut down in May 2017. The new and improved app reappeared in August 2017, though it remains associated with cyberbullying.
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Founding and Early Success | Yik Yak was founded in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington. The social media platform allowed users to post anonymous messages within a 1.5-mile radius, creating hyper-local, location-based conversations. It gained rapid popularity, particularly on college campuses, due to its anonymity and real-time interactions. |
| Controversies and Cyberbullying | While Yik Yak provided a platform for candid discussions, it also faced significant issues related to cyberbullying, harassment, and the spread of harmful content. Its anonymity feature made it challenging to monitor and curb abusive behavior. |
| Growth and User Base | Yik Yak experienced substantial growth, reaching millions of users and becoming particularly popular among college students. Its real-time feed of posts made it a unique platform for sharing thoughts and opinions within a specific geographical area. |
| Investment and Valuation | Yik Yak attracted investment from prominent venture capital firms, leading to a peak valuation of over $400 million in 2014. The platform’s potential to revolutionize location-based social networking was a significant selling point. |
| Decline and Campus Bans | As the platform grew, concerns about its impact on mental health and the prevalence of offensive and harmful content led to various colleges and universities banning Yik Yak on their campuses. These bans limited its user base and raised questions about its long-term viability. |
| Changes and Feature Updates | In an attempt to address issues related to cyberbullying and harassment, Yik Yak implemented changes, including the removal of handles, which made users fully anonymous. However, these changes also impacted the platform’s appeal and user engagement. |
| Shutdown and User Data Deletion | In April 2017, Yik Yak announced its closure. The company cited challenges in achieving its original mission of fostering positive, hyper-local communities due to ongoing issues with abuse and harassment. Yik Yak also deleted all user data and posts as part of its shutdown. |
| Acquisition and Relaunch | In April 2021, Square, the financial services and mobile payment company, acquired Yik Yak’s intellectual property. In 2021, a new version of Yik Yak was relaunched as a college-focused, moderated, and less anonymous social platform. |
| Reimagined Purpose | The relaunched Yik Yak aimed to create a more positive and supportive community on college campuses while addressing previous issues with anonymity and harmful content. It included features like identity verification and stricter content moderation. |
Origin Story
Yik Yak is a social media smartphone app launched in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington.
The platform allows users to post anonymous messages, or yaks, to other users within a five-mile radius.
Reactions to these messages can then be upvoted or downvoted in a similar system to the one employed on Reddit.
Yik Yak enjoyed tremendous growth during 2013 and 2014, with the app particularly popular with school and college-age students.
After a successful round of funding in 2014, the company was valued at $400 million, and the app had been downloaded almost 2 million times.
Three short years later, however, Yik Yak announced it would be closing down the app due to poor user engagement.
What went wrong?
Cyberbullying
Given its popularity with the younger demographic, it is perhaps no surprise that Yik Yak was frequently associated with cyberbullying.
In 2014, a Massachusetts school was forced to evacuate twice after receiving bomb threats through the app.
Several other educational institutions were forced to close under similar circumstances, with one individual threatening to carry out a mass shooting and another threatening violence against minority groups.
The very design of the app also contributed to the problem.
Cyberbullying victims knew the person or people wishing to do them harm were nearby.
What’s more, cyberbullies could operate on Yik Yak with far more anonymity than they could on Facebook or Twitter and were subject to little or no moderation.
Unsustainable business model and mismanagement
In response to pressure from the media and various social groups, Yik Yak prevented its users from using the app at school.
Though the measure reduced instances of bullying, the decision resulted in a significant decline in popularity among the app’s student-centric user base.
In other words, Yik Yak was most useful in scenarios commonly found in schools where:
- Large amounts of people are concentrated in a single area.
- Students from the same institution share and discuss things they have in common.
- Anonymity is preferred when voicing an opinion in public.
By 2016, downloads had decreased by 76% compared to the previous year.
Shutdown and Square acquisition
Yik Yak decision-makers attempted to make the app more user-friendly by requiring users to have a username and profile photo and undergo phone verification.
However, their efforts were in vain, and the platform was shut down in May 2017.
Fintech giant Square then acquired several Yik Yak engineers and the rights to some of the company’s intellectual property for the paltry sum of $1 million.
Relaunch
On August 15, 2021, Yik Yak announced a comeback, with the app once again available for download.
The reincarnated app shared many similarities with the discontinued version while emphasizing user safety and stringent community guidelines.
Despite these initiatives, the app continues to be plagued by cyberbullying.
Oklahoma Christian University is one example of an educational institution banning the new app after discovering it was once again being used to target others.
Key highlights of Yik Yak:
- Yik Yak was a social media smartphone app launched in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington. It allowed users to post anonymous messages (yaks) to others within a five-mile radius, and reactions to these messages could be upvoted or downvoted.
- The app gained immense popularity, particularly among school and college-age students, and was valued at $400 million in 2014.
- However, Yik Yak faced significant issues with cyberbullying and threats of violence. It became associated with several incidents where educational institutions had to evacuate or close due to bomb threats and violence threats.
- In response to the growing concern about cyberbullying, Yik Yak disabled functionality on school grounds, which led to a decline in user engagement and popularity.
- Despite attempts to make the app safer and user-friendly, Yik Yak was shut down in May 2017 due to poor user engagement and the prevalence of cyberbullying.
- The intellectual property and some engineers of Yik Yak were acquired by Square for $1 million after the shutdown.
- Yik Yak attempted a comeback in August 2021, emphasizing user safety and community guidelines. However, the app continues to face issues with cyberbullying, leading to some educational institutions banning its use once again.
| Year | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Yik Yak launched by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington. | Yik Yak, a social media smartphone app, is launched, allowing users to post anonymous messages (yaks) to others within a five-mile radius. The app gains popularity, particularly among school and college-age students, due to its anonymity and real-time interactions. |
| 2014 | Yik Yak valued at $400 million. | Following rapid growth and substantial user engagement, Yik Yak is valued at $400 million in a funding round. The app has been downloaded almost 2 million times and becomes widely used, especially on college campuses. |
| 2014 | Yik Yak associated with cyberbullying and threats of violence. | Despite its popularity, Yik Yak faces significant issues related to cyberbullying, harassment, and threats of violence. Several incidents occur where educational institutions receive bomb threats or threats of violence through the app, leading to concerns about its impact on user safety and well-being. |
| 2016 | Yik Yak experiences decline in downloads. | Concerns about cyberbullying and the app’s negative impact on mental health lead to declines in user engagement and downloads. The decision to disable functionality on school grounds further reduces user engagement, as the app was most popular among students in educational institutions. |
| 2017 | Yik Yak shuts down due to poor user engagement. | Despite attempts to address issues related to cyberbullying and harassment, Yik Yak announces its closure in May 2017. The company cites challenges in achieving its mission of fostering positive, hyper-local communities due to ongoing issues with abuse and harassment. Yik Yak also deletes all user data and posts as part of its shutdown. |
| 2021 | Square acquires Yik Yak’s intellectual property. | Fintech giant Square acquires Yik Yak’s intellectual property and hires several of its engineers for $1 million. The acquisition marks the end of Yik Yak’s original incarnation as a social media app. |
| 2021 | Yik Yak relaunches with a focus on user safety and community guidelines. | Yik Yak makes a comeback in August 2021, with a new version of the app emphasizing user safety and stringent community guidelines. Despite efforts to address previous issues with cyberbullying, the app continues to face challenges, with some educational institutions banning its use due to concerns about its negative impact on student well-being. |
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