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Brent Reser on social media

Social media is always evolving, and sometimes the changes can scare people. This has been the case with the hottest new social media app called Yik Yak that has taken college campuses across the nation by storm.

If you haven’t heard of this controversial social posting service, here is the quick lowdown: users of Yik Yak post messages to a certain community. Each community is defined by a 1.5 mile radius, a constraint that is perfect for isolating college campuses. The major kicker in all of this? All messages are posted anonymously. Users can draft and send out messages without any accountability for content.

The anonymity of Yik Yak unfortunately encourages negative comments, even bullying, fake threats and slander. At many universities, the most common institutional response has been to encourage students not to use the app or, in some cases, to petition Yik Yak to have the service completely blocked in their areas.

Here at Coastal Carolina University, we took a different approach.

On October 30, a “#CCU Yik Yak Takeover” was executed. Social media staff leaders on campus encouraged students were encouraged to post only positive and inspirational content to Yik Yak between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Students who found one of the social media leaders on Prince Lawn and sent out a positive “Yak” (term used for a post on Yik Yak) in their presence received either a T-shirt, sunglasses or phone cover.

The result was a complete transformation of the Coastal Carolina University Yik Yak community. Instead of the normal gossip/bad language/crude jokes that characterize the Yik Yak feed of your typical university, Coastal stood out. For those nine hours, if you browsed the CCU stream, you would have felt refreshed and proud. Encouragement, positivity and Chant Pride dominated.

Did the takeover permanently change the Coastal Yik Yak feed? No. Was it a step in the right direction? Absolutely. Members of the CCU community saw that they have the power to separate themselves from the Yik Yak norm and embrace the Feel the Teal values upon which this University is based. It will take more than a nine-hour Yik Yak ambush to instill long lasting changes, but one thing was established: Coastal will not hide from nor fight this innovative new social media service. Instead everything possible will be done to positively shape the Yik Yak culture and turn it into a valuable tool for this University.
 

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