Language
Country/Area
No result found
From overnight popularity to closure! Why did Yik Yak fall from heaven to hell?
Yik Yak was an innovative anonymous social media app first launched in 2013 and relaunched in 2021. The app is designed to allow users to create and view threads, called "Yaks," within a five-mile radius. While it initially attracted a large number of users, continued negative press, cyberbullying and the proliferation of hate speech have slowly dimmed the platform's luster.
"Yik Yak's success stemmed from its privacy, but a lack of responsible regulation ultimately doomed the platform."
Yik Yak’s founders, Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, are both graduates of Furman University in South Carolina. They started the project while in college, and within just a year of its launch, it quickly became the ninth most downloaded social media app in the United States. But in the following years, as user numbers declined and social climate changed, the future of the platform became in jeopardy.
In particular, a 2016 report found that user downloads of Yik Yak dropped 76% from 2015. The changes drew widespread media attention, particularly negative coverage of hate speech and cyberbullying, leading many schools to ban students from using the app. Elementary and middle school administrators have even resorted to legal means to block the use of Yik Yak, believing it to be a breeding ground for malicious behavior online.
"Yik Yak's anonymity application provides a space for free expression on the one hand, but on the other hand it also leads to the spread of cyberbullying."
Finally on April 28, 2017, Yik Yak announced that it would cease service soon, and shut down completely soon after. Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) purchased Yik Yak's intellectual property for $1 million and recruited several former employees.
On August 15, 2021, Yik Yak announced its restart through the official website and was relaunched on the iOS platform. This return brings new hope, and many supporters have renewed their expectations for this once popular application. However, with the rise of new competitor Sidechat, Yik Yak once again faces the test of survival. In March 2023, Sidechat purchased Yik Yak for an undisclosed price, and its ANDROD version was removed from the Google Play Store.
The journey from success to failure
The rise and fall of Yik Yak can be summarized into several main stages. The first is rapid growth and widespread application, followed by negative media reviews and social backlash, which ultimately leads to the loss of users. The founders tried to introduce reforms in 2015 to reduce the spread of bullying and hate speech, but these efforts failed to effectively prevent the platform's decline. The story of Yik Yak reflects the difficult challenges social media faces when it comes to social responsibility and user safety.
With the closure of Yik Yak, many old users also expressed their feelings of loss, but some users began to reflect on the controversy and troubles this platform had caused. Whether the re-emerged Yik Yak can effectively use its previous experience to create a safe and meaningful social space has become a key issue in the future. Could Yik Yak’s rapid rise and fall serve as a cautionary tale for other social media outlets?
