Local social networks are at their best. The health crisis due to the coronavirus and the limitation of movement in many regions has made a world close by. So much has been its growth that it has even brought from the grave one of the applications that had been forgotten for four years. Yik Yak, which announced its final closure in 2017, returns to take his place in the world again.
Returns with all its pros and cons. Bought in 2017 by Square for $ 1 million, it was the beginning of the app’s decommissioning. After all, since 2o16 Yik Yak had been dragging a base problem. Operating by geolocation, the social network designed to put United States university students in contact within a radius of 5 miles –14 km– was victim of anonymity that made him popular.
Anyone could comment or speak on Yik Yak in what would now become known as Twitter threads. Anyone could vote in a similar way to Reddit. But no one would know the identity of the users. Although the place was designed to meet people, share places or nearby activities or information about the environment, this was soon forgotten. It goes without saying that the social network was the breeding ground for countless comments based on hatred, racism, bullying or any other aggression on social networks. Everything, of course, protected in the most absolute anonymity.
The first problem for Yik Yak came in August 2016. The obligation to register with a name and an email on social networks was implemented. It was the principle of the fight against hate on these platforms and the same one that today is still linked to the Twitter or Facebook environment. For Yik Yak it was losing his essence and also facing the monster at hand. Already at that time, the social network knew about the problem and the impossibility of controlling what was happening there.
Nevertheless, the social network was an immediate success. Founded in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington to focus on colleges in the United States – a story that Facebook also lived through – its impact soon began to spread around the world. Millions of students had Yik Yak as a reference on their campuses. Canada, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, France or Italy replicated the initial impact in the North American country. It arrived in Spain in 2016 without fully curdling. Shortly after they announced the closure and with it all the markets.
And now, Yik Yak will remain anonymous
Since the closure of Yik Yak, other social networks have taken its place. Nextdoor positioned itself as the protagonist of local social networks. Suffering from the same problems as the cessation regarding comments within its walls, how true it is has lived his golden moment during the pandemic.
Now, the question now is whether the social network returned from the dead will maintain the main characteristic that made them succeed: anonymity, even if partial. At the moment only for iOS and in the United States, but with a clear intention to expand to the markets where they already had a presence, the social network affirms that it will be working intensively on control hate comments. It will be Yik Yak’s great challenge at a time when hate speech has intensified. According to Unesco data, after the pandemic, racist, sexist or xenophobic comments have increased exponentially. All taking into account the attempt of social networks to control them.
Yik Yak will maintain the anonymity of its users, except for the fact of being in the range of 14 kilometers of influence. To avoid any harassment, the social network prohibits the publication of any data that refers to personal information, both of oneself and of third parties. “You are responsible for your yaks and their consequences and for your interactions with other yakkers. We urge you to be careful with your interactions,” they point out from their terms and Conditions. Anything that does not comply with these regulations will be deleted and the user –or yakker– expelled.
Likewise, users will be able to report any case of abuse and intimidation so that it can be reviewed by the team. For this reason, for the moment it will only be possible to speak in English within the social network. We will have to wait for how they face a future expansion and expansion of languages. Regarding false news, hoaxes or acts related to obstruction of justice or democracy –the January 2021 assault on Congress is still recent– They also have their space in the prohibitions. Fake news may not be published, unless it is obviously satirical.