(Google Playstore , 2016)
YikYak is one of the latest platforms that has joined social media. YikYak? As a European you probally haven’t heard about YikYak, because it is a social media platform that was founded in the U.S (YikYak, 2016).
YikYak is a location-based app, which was originally targeted for students and campuses. YikYak offers you to share your thoughts in the area you are. People can also share your thoughts and can like them to get your thought to a higher position (Allsopp, 2016). YikYak is very popular in the U.S. and widely used by students and campuses (YikYak, 2016).
But how many people are using YikYak. If compared with big players like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook YikYak doesn’t have got a lot of active users. Estimates are that YikYak has got around 4 million active users in the U.S. (Constine, 2016). Not only is this quite a large user base for a start-up company, YikYak is also one of the best apps if you look at millennial (between 18 and 34 years old) users with over 99%.
(Statista , 2016)
YikYak is quite a success in the U.S. and there are serious plans to expand and to go worldwide. But will YikYak succeed in other countries?
There are several arguments to answer this question. First, YikYak does definitely things in another way than other social media channels. It is location-based and you can only see the users in your area. This is totally different in comparison with other social media channels like Facebook.
Secondly, it is anonymous. This is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. The advantage is that the bar to start a conversation with people is lower, because you can’t see a photo of the person you are talking with or who is commenting on your post. This can also be a disadvantage, because you can come across people who can be threaten other users. So an anonymous user base can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage.
At last, YikYak can create an enormous user base in other countries, if they follow the same concept as in the U.S. YikYak is very interesting for students and campuses, because these are areas where people would like to meet up and to share their thoughts with each other. Because most countries have a lot of big universities and campuses the user base for YikYak could be enormous.
So is YikYak going to take over the social media market?
Yes I believe so, because YikYak is growing and expanding fast, because the entry barrier to sign up on the app is so low. Also anonymous accounts is a USP, because people don’t get the feeling that they can lose their privacy on the web. If YikYak plans their expansion carefully, they will certainly improve and extend their user base dramatically.
Bibliography:
Allsopp, A. (2016, January 16). 7 Social media channels that could be booming in 2016. Retrieved from Pcadvisor : http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/social-networks/7-new-social-media-apps-that-could-be-big-in-2016-3587091/
Constine, J. (2016, April 6). Yikyak CTO drops out . Retrieved from Techcrunch : https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/06/yik-yuck/
Google Playstore . (2016). Play Google . Retrieved from Google Playstore : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yik.yak
Statista . (2016, June 1). Leading Apps by millennial users in the U.S. in June 2016. Retrieved from Statista : https://www.statista.com/statistics/470730/millennials-app-user-concentration/
YikYak. (2016). About YikYak . Retrieved from YikYak : https://www.yikyak.com/about
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