Anonymous messaging app Yik Yak that allows college students to vent out their gripes on virtually anything, TechCrunch reported.
In just three months, the startup which is backed by Atlanta Capital with a $20,000 convertible note, already has 100,000 users in just three months. Founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington created the app which intends to link individuals with anonymous, location-based posts. The two students of Furman University designed the app so that the poster can share his or her complaint to the nearest 100, 250 or 500 Yik Yak users in a five-mile radius. If posters wish to reach 1,000 people, they will have to pay $.99, if they wish to reach 2,500 people, they will have to fork out $1.99 and to reach 10,000 Yik Yak users, they will have to pay $5, the report said.
The founders of Yik Yak told TechCrunch in an interview that their app is primarily utilized to air complaints about whatever-from things to individuals to classes to virtually anything else. Users can opt to reveal their general location and actual names, the report said.
This brings to bullying issues to the core and some colleges already feel that Yik Yak breaches rules that protect against bullying. The only safeguard that the app has in place for now is that it takes out posts that are flagged as not appropriate by at least two users. They also delete content if a screenshot capture of it is taken and emailed to them.
However, Buffington said they are doing more to prevent the app from being used as a tool for bullying. He told TechCrunch, "We're working on trying to find technical solutions to prevent app abuse by high schoolers, the blocks that we currently have in place aren't working as well as we'd like them to. One thing that we have seen on the college front is that the longer a community is around the more mature and constructive it becomes. So we think that lends to some promise for the anonymous or semi-anonymous app realm."
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