Why Yik Yak Failed

If you haven’t already heard, Yik Yak has officially shut down.

Once valued at $400 million, creators Tyler and Brooks called it quits on April 27 and noted that some of the team will join Square, which is also based in Atlanta.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why Yik Yak failed. It seemed to be all the rage on college campuses, providing students with a source of gossip and a platform to complain about assignments, teachers, etc., under the comfort of anonymity.

So what happened?

1. Gossip gets frustrating. As a former Yakker, I grew more and more frustrated with the false information that was so quickly spread through Yik Yak.
2. Nobody likes negativity. With total anonymity, Yakkers felt free to be really mean to people and complain about everything. While it is nice to have somewhere to complain about life, it can be annoying to read everyone else’s problems too.
3. No lasting connections. Humans are a social species. We like to make new connections and Yik Yak simply didn’t provide that. You might find you agree with someone’s Yak, upvote it, but then what? Nothing. You keep scrolling.

So what do you think caused Yik Yak to fail?

You can check out Yik Yak’s official blog post here.