Yik Yak is a new phone app (for both iOS and Android) that is being called a cross between Twitter and Snapchat. It creates a text chat room shared by up to 500 anonymous users who are all near one another (powered by the GPS services in one’s phone.) Its developers say it is designed for college campuses, but it is increasingly showing up in high schools and middle schools.
The anonymity of the posts make Yik Yak the perfect breeding ground for bullying and other anti-social, snarky, juvenile behavior.
To learn more about why Yik Yak is creating such a ruckus, here’s an article from Sophos, Yik Yak banned as schools grapple with toxic anonymous social chat, and a video from CNN, followed by the Yik Yak promo video.
