YikYak: The Comeback We Didn’t Ask For, But Needed.

Graphic by Sophie Sternkopf

This year, students here at Syracuse University have started obsessively using YikYak, an app that resembles an anonymous Twitter. Since everyone is already addicted to social media, why not add another app to raise our screen times? 

Most people love Twitter for the viral commentary on current events, celebrities, and other news. However, make it local and more personalized to your community, and you have YikYak. Anyone within a five-mile radius can write and submit commentary (up to 200 characters). Other members can upvote or downvote the post. Some submit party locations, unpopular opinions, confessions, or just random thoughts. 

Trends tend to snowball on YikYak. This parents' weekend, we saw about a hundred too many MILF and DILF jokes like, "this milf makes me wanna give her all my Cuse cash" and "not me cranking up the age range on my tinder profile this weekend." Though you have to sift through a plethora of dumbass posts about people complaining or being horny, we can admit some of them are highly entertaining. 

YikYak isn’t only good for a quick laugh. Earlier this semester, word spread quickly about protests on campus calling out fraternities accused of sexual harassment. 

These protests ended up making national news, along with other university protests concerning rape accusations.