Yik Yak is a social app launched in 2013. It quickly became a favorite on college campuses across the U.S. The idea was simple: post whatever you’re thinking to people nearby, no names, just local vibes.
The app was created by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, who first launched it in 2013. It shut down in 2017 because of issues like cyberbullying, but came back in 2021 with stricter rules to keep things safer.
Recently, they rolled out an update and skyrocketed to 300,000 downloads.
And that’s not all… around the same time, Yik Yak went from 2 accounts to 27 on TikTok. Coincidence?
From the charts we’ve been watching, there were long gaps with no posts, but then things picked up again in September. Now the app has hit 20 million views.
The top 3 viral videos all come from the app’s original page, made back in 2021. What’s interesting is that the older videos all stick to the same style.
The creator shows up in a chest-up headshot. A real comment from the app pops up on screen. They read it or react to it in a chill, easygoing way. It’s all delivered with a mix of irony and dark humor.
The new videos, however, feel different. This time, it’s college students filming headshot-style clips, showing how they use Yik Yak in everyday life, not just for gossip, but to make campus life smoother.
698.3Kviews, 154.2K likes, 402 comments, 9K bookmarks.
Each video starts with a hook and sticks to the same overall concept
- “You think chatting is a privilege…”
- “I’ve done everything you can on YikYak…”
- “You can truly do anything on YikYak…”
- “This is the ultimate YikYak bar method…”
- “YikYak is the best news source…”
At the same time, the team keeps that same gossip vibe from the older videos and still leaning into its playful side, but now it’s trying out a new format. It’s still headshot-style, but this time the creator stays silent, the hook does all the work.
- “When I’m getting dragged on yik yak for being a campus celebrity”
- “When a girl you barely know is doing too much on Yik Yak so you have to walk over to your class”
- “that one time i removed someone’s laundry from the dryer cuz it was there for 2 hours and I was trying to do my laundry. A few minutes”
- “me reading yik yak and decided to be dramatic”
- “my embarrassing moment on yik yak when I was at the fraternity party and tried to”
So far, this new style hasn’t gotten the same level of engagement, but our guess is that it might just be because the videos are still new.
Before the new wave of creators showed up, the app’s second account was all about one thing: the famous Quadrant Chart a simple, scroll-stopping format people couldn’t get enough of.
219.1Kviews, 14.8K likes, 223 comments, 480 bookmarks.
First slide (the hook): a photo of a university with a fun, attention-grabbing title that hints at what’s being compared.
Second slide (the content): a Scale or Quadrant Chart, like the ones that rank college classes or majors.
At the heart of it, these are social and cultural jokes made anonymously on Yik Yak. They stereotype students and courses using two simple axes, like party level vs. attitude. Easy to get, fast to share, and relatable.
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