College freshmen Alex Harris and Adam Ring take a break from studying for midterms by scrolling through Yik Yak. / Photo by Hayley Silverstein, Contributing Writer
By now, everyone knows about the app Yik Yak, and it has slowly become Emory’s favorite new way to procrastinate. With such a diverse student body, you would expect Emory’s Yik Yak feed to be equally as diverse, when, in reality, it can be narrowed down into 10 types of posters. If you have the app (which you probably do unless you don’t have a phone), you will have seen these yakkers numerous times and will definitely fall into at least one of these categories.
1) Offensive Yakkers
These are the people that have made SGA propose banning Yik Yak on campus. Among the majority of good-natured content, there are consistently racist and intolerant yaks. It is unfortunate that members of the Emory community choose to demean others, and it detracts from the many other amusing and harmless yaks.
2) Frat Bros
Some of these yakkers help the lost freshmen wandering the row find the shining (and rare) beacon of light that is a party at Emory.
However, most of the time they just make fun of the other frats and sometimes even their own. You can be sure that the frat bros will be filling up Yik Yak with entertainment (unlike the row)
3) Freshmen
The freshmen class has already made a mark on campus, and they normally fill Yik Yak with their college adventures (many of which are nonexistent). Whether someone in Hamilton Holmes yaks about pre-gaming in his or her room or someone in Raoul yaks about how they slept with their RA, the main thing freshmen yaks are good for are keeping a tally on which halls have been EMSed the most.
4) Non-posters
The majority of Yik Yak is composed of the non-posters. They scroll endlessly through yaks, either before falling asleep or right after waking up, only up-voting and down-voting. In a way, their votes of approval and disapproval are what all yakkers seek.
5) Cuddle-seekers
It can be hard to find that special someone in college, and it can be even more challenging to find someone who just wants to watch Netflix and cuddle on a Saturday night. On many party nights, yakkers will be looking for someone who is DTC (down to cuddle), only to realize that Yik Yak is anonymous so they will never be able to find that special person who up-votes their yak in real life.
6) Complainers
Sometimes people just need to vent about their frustrations, and they do so on Yik Yak for all of campus to read. Normally things that are complained about are the DUC, one-ply toilet paper, how much they hate their science and/or math class and how bad the Row is at Emory. While many of the yaks are not funny, they get empathy up-votes from students who face the same struggles.
7) Reposters
The Reposters are a common breed of yakkers and can easily be spotted amongst all other yaks. Many of them think that no one will notice how they copied a popular yak from 12 minutes ago and only changed one word. They will get offended when you call them out on their plagiarism, but it wont stop them from doing it all over again.
8) People looking to hook-up
Honestly, just get Tinder already.
9) Those under the influence
The rule that one shouldn’t text when inebriated should apply to Yik Yak as well. These yaks are easily spotted by their misspellings and grammatical mistakes. They usually brag about how much they drank/smoked or publicize their hangovers. These yaks make you jealous when you aren’t out partying, but grateful the next morning when you aren’t comatose in bed with a hangover.
10) Actually funny people
The rarest of all yakkers are the truly funny and original people. Their yaks actually make you laugh and brighten your otherwise dreadful long hours of studying. These yakkers relish in the moment when their yak reaches the top spot on the hot page and won’t shut up to their friends about it.
Yik yak can be a great source of entertainment, but remember: yak responsibly and be excellent to everyone. Or at least to the funny ones.
– By Hayley Silverstein, Contributing Writer
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
