Yik Yak - Gets alot of attention
Parents pay attention to this post about Yik Yak, check your kids phones.
A smart phone app that allows users to post messages anonymously is coming under fire for fostering cyberbullying, leading to at least two juvenile arrests, school phone-use bans and several campus lockdowns.
Scrutiny of the 4-month-old Yik Yak app for Android and Apple devices has spread from the Southeast to the Northeast to the Midwest and, this week, to the West Coast.
The app has registered more than 10,000 downloads on Google’s Play Store and, according to AppAnnie, has cracked the top 100 most popular apps on Apple’s App Store. Yik Yak’s creators said a month ago that the app has more than 100,000 users.
Like on Twitter, users can post short blurbs of text. But these “yaks” don’t have any name or user name attached to them. The messages can be read by the 500 "yakkers" who are nearest the writer. The app is free but the writer can can pay to distribute messages to more people over a wider geographic area.
But crude, derogatory and threatening posts sprinkled among trifling conversation have distressed educators.
The website also doesn’t disclose specifics about data it collects from users’ devices or for how long data is stored. A short note simply reads that “we will never require any information from you other than your location.”
Scrutiny of the 4-month-old Yik Yak app for Android and Apple devices has spread from the Southeast to the Northeast to the Midwest and, this week, to the West Coast.
The app has registered more than 10,000 downloads on Google’s Play Store and, according to AppAnnie, has cracked the top 100 most popular apps on Apple’s App Store. Yik Yak’s creators said a month ago that the app has more than 100,000 users.
Like on Twitter, users can post short blurbs of text. But these “yaks” don’t have any name or user name attached to them. The messages can be read by the 500 "yakkers" who are nearest the writer. The app is free but the writer can can pay to distribute messages to more people over a wider geographic area.
But crude, derogatory and threatening posts sprinkled among trifling conversation have distressed educators.
The website also doesn’t disclose specifics about data it collects from users’ devices or for how long data is stored. A short note simply reads that “we will never require any information from you other than your location.”
The move comes after administrators at Whitney Young High School, New Trier, and Lake Forest High School sent letters to parents warning them of Yik Yak.
The spinning yak promises the latest gossip in a school cafeteria. At Whitney Young High School, an email from administrators Wednesday warned this latest "virtual bathroom wall" had the potential to do great damage, primarily because users aren't identified.
"Students were actually coming downstairs to talk to administration and they were mentioning remarks posted and student names that were obvious so of course that is going to impact you," said Asst. Vice Principal Melvin Soto, Whitney Young High School.
The school has blocked Yik Yak on its WiFi, but those with data plans can access it anywhere, anytime. So the objective is to get kids to write with a conscience. Many said they were disturbed by the tone of yik-yak.
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