HOT TOPICS IN PREVENTION: So much to talk about, so little space! – Winter 2014

TMC ‐ WINTER/Dec. Issue By Elizabeth Garcia, Director, Hialeah Community Coalition (HCC)

Blocking Yik Yak in Middle and High Schools ­ Social Responsibility or Censorship?

Yik Yak is an anonymous social media app, launched in 2013. It is available for iOS and Android and allows users to anonymously create and view posts within a 1.5 mile radius. It differs from other anonymous sharing apps in that it is intended for sharing primarily with those in close proximity to the user, potentially making it more intimate and relevant for people reading the posts.

Yik Yak works by combining the technologies of GPS and . To create a new spin on the twitter world, users post anonymously. Before loading messages, the Yik Yak app determines your location and groups you into pockets of 1.5 mile radius zones. Within these zones, anyone inside the radius can post and read other peoples “yaks”. Yik Yak is effectively an anonymous bulletin board. All users have the ability to contribute to the stream by writing, responding, and up voting or down voting yaks. You can share your thoughts and keep your privacy on Yik Yak. No sign­up required. Get a live feed of what everyone's saying around you.

One of the biggest criticisms of social media sites and applications, especially those in which the users are anonymous, is their inherent potential to feed the growing issue of cyber­bullying. While the app was originally designed for the quick dissemination of information such as public service announcements or celebrity visits to campus, for people in college and older, it quickly became a major problem when high and middle school students used the anonymity the application provides to engage in cyberbullying and terror threats. Due to the widespread bullying and harassment committed through Yik Yak, many schools and school districts have taken action to ban the app. These include several school districts, Eanes Independent School District in , Lincoln High School in , New Richmond School District in , and Pueblo County School District in . Norwich University in banned the app, and as of October 2, 2014, the Student Government Association at in is pushing for a resolution to ban the app as well. In response to public outcry, the application was updated to include geofences that work in the background. These imaginary fences disable the application within their defined borders. The developers partnered with Vermont based company, Maponics, who happened to already have nearly 85% of the country’s high schools mapped, making it easy to block access to Yik Yak in those areas. The fences are currently in effect mainly to disable the app on all middle and high school grounds throughout the country. If the app is opened within one of these areas the user is displayed a message along the lines of: “it looks like you’re trying to use Yik Yak on a middle school or high school grounds. Yik Yak is intended for people college­aged and above.

Web Site: www.yikyakapp.com/