By Robin Sandhu
New Tech Expert
In the past, it has always been younger audiences that drive tech
adoption. But in the massive churn of social media, changes have sped up
to the point that audiences may be separating. Facebook has become
passé to many younger users, to the point where kids that are now
joining social media may not even think to create a Facebook
account. In what seems almost like a parody, younger audiences are
taking to a number other social media platforms, some of which are
virtually unheard of to many adults. Enter: Yik Yak.
Creation of Yik Yak
Yik
Yak was created in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, who were
members of the same fraternity at Furman University in South Carolina.
Yik Yak’s success is a demonstration of the trend of social media app
life cycles are contracting. The app offers status updates that are
constrained in length similarly to Twitter, but are made anonymously.
The app then populates users’ feeds with posts from the same geographic
area, as all posts are geotagged.
Posts can be voted up or down, leading to a similar meritocracy to platforms like Reddit.
The
combination of short posts and anonymity, aimed specifically at college
campuses proved to be a potent mixture of existing social media ideas.
Yik Yak gained over 100,000 users in its first 3 months, and
subsequently landed increasing rounds of funding, culminating in a $61
million investment led by Sequioia capital, approximately one year after
the company was founded.
Social Media Startup Teams: A New Trend?
Yik
Yak seems to highlight a number of trends that are emerging from social
media startups. Timeframes for adoption of platforms appears to be
getting shorter, particularly when the platforms are targeting college
students. The network effects of these apps seem to have become an
undeniable force. Second, many of the founding teams of social media
sites appear to be taking a cue from the founding of Facebook, as early
success is often a preamble to a disagreement and lawsuit within a
founding team. Dating app Tinder
courted controversy amid allegations of sexual harassment, and even
more notable, popular messaging app Snapchat had a lawsuit arise from an
ousted co-founder and former fraternity brother. In almost identical
fashion, a lawsuit has emerged from a former fraternity brother and
cofounder, citing a falling out and nebulous parting of ways in the
company’s short history.
Anonymity as an Asset in Social Media
Another
trend that Yik Yak’s success has suggested is that social media success
can be achieved by taking concepts that are already in place on various
existing platforms, and combining them into a novel mixture. Short,
constrained messages are certainly nothing new at this point. But the
combination of these messages with anonymity (which the founders
maintain is optional, real names can be used) and geotagging to allow
for users to see nearby conversations has created a potent mixture. In
particular, the notion of anonymity has become a powerful additive to a
world of social media where users are now constantly vigilant of
Facebook and Twitter sharing for fear of indiscretions.
The Double Edged Sword
This
anonymity has been one of the most powerful selling features of Yik
Yak, but has also caused a great deal of controversy, particularly among
parents of users upon learning about the platform through their
children. The platform has become an effective medium for
cyber-bullying, owing to the anonymity of the posts, and people being
able to see posts from nearby. Many have called for the app to be banned
or shut down, particularly as the app has caught on not just with the
target college audiences, but much younger users as well. The app has
also been at the center of a number of controversies around threats of
violence that are made anonymously which have been taken seriously by
schools and campuses that are vigilant of warning signs to prevent
catastrophe.
The Most Valuable Asset for a Platform? Kids Like It
Ultimately,
the success of Yik Yak is proof that still one of the most powerful
audiences for social media is the young one. With many predicting that
Facebook’s success now depends on an older market, which prompted the
company to acquire the younger-skewing Instagram, it is the
trend-fueled, virally driven world of teenagers that is driving the
success of many new social media platforms. And with a $350 million
valuation for a company that is little over a year old, it is a very
powerful force indeed.
source: about.com
