Yik Yak is an anonymous social app known to be used for students on college campuses, is declaring to its users to create usernames for themselves that is relevant from now on, these names will be attached to their posts by default.
The developers of the app Yik Yak was created by students at Furman University in South Carolina by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington which was released in November 2013. The app sets users into herds depending on their current location, where it allows them to post a limited of 200 characters that can only be viewed to a local community.
Yik Yak introduced the handles that works similar to a username, where a user must choose a distinct handle that will be used at the same time to post or reply on Yaks. This key feature is optional, where users still have the ability to select a handle in their choosing and will able to post anonymously, although Yik Yak will use a user's handle by default.
In addition on Yik Yak's blog post stating, "You can post with your handle whenever you want, and 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."
Brooks Buffington mentioned that this feature was inspired by another hallmark called reply icons that was introduced last year by the company, which made it easy for users to follow up on conversations on a single thread of replies, has now doubled the number of replies users post onto the app.
The additional importance of the handles initializes the app for the first time for users to post under their real name if necessary. This shows a wide shift that's been set in motion even though Yik Yak is known for its anonymity, CEO Tyler Droll declared this feature's expectation might help build up the app in communities, also saying, "Yik Yak's always been about location first and anonymity second, and even with this introduction of handles, that doesn't change, we're just taking another step to allow users to form tighter relationships within their community.
