If you update the Yik Yak app as of this week, you're greeted with this demand now. Does that fix anything? Well...
Since its launch in 2013, the app Yik Yak has racked up plenty of users—but it has also earned a pretty nasty reputation. The message board app combines anonymous chatter with GPS functionality, and the unidentified people reading and posting on a given "board" are in the same real-world area, which has fueled years of quick-shot acrimony—and worse.
Imagine implementing 4chan-like functionality for graffiti on a bathroom wall. The app, which has been mostly marketed at college campuses, has been at the center of more than a few reported cases of severe harassment and even threats of violence. Thanks to that reputation, mainstream users largely dismiss Yik Yak as either a cesspool of ickiness or just a thing for college kids.
But Yik Yak's newest functionality announcement could change all that. Tuesday saw the company roll out "handles," or usernames, and anyone who upgrades the app from here on out will be encouraged to pick a name and attach it to posts they make using the service. Pure anonymity has given way to pseudonymity. "Since you can come to recognize the other personalities that make your community unique and awesome, with handles your herd will feel closer than ever," Yik Yak co-founder Tyler Droll said in the announcement.
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