3 ms·
I wouldn't at all blame the VC's for this. Yak killed their own app overnight by taking the main feature that made it popular - the fact that it was anonymous -
by pitaa 9y ago
I wouldn't at all blame the VC's for this. Yak killed their own app overnight by taking the main feature that made it popular - the fact that it was anonymous - and making an about-face to suddenly require usernames (and strongly encourage social media integration). The fact that they thought that was a good idea in the first place, along with the fact that they didn't think that maybe they should A B test the change in a smaller market first, clearly demonstrates to me that the founders didn't know what they were doing and didn't have what it would have taken to be successful.
Before they shot themselves in the foot, they had a huge following among college students because the app was one of the best ways to get and share info on campus. You can't tell me that couldn't have been monetized. Hell, Durex could have made millions by offering $.50 off coupons on the app every night!
It's not that it couldn't have made money, the founders just didn't seem to have a realistic vision for how they were going to do so.
- nerfhammer 9y ago> require usernames (and strongly encourage social media integration) very possible that they thought it would be nearly impossible to monetize anonymous users > the fact that they didn't think that maybe they should A B test the change in a smaller market first, clearly demonstrates to me that the founders didn't know what they were doing Absolutely right. It's just like digg v4.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago> Yak killed their own app overnight by taking the main feature that made it popular - the fact that it was anonymous - and making an about-face to suddenly require usernames Wasn't anonymous harassment a rampant problem?
- pitaa 9y agoWell, they blocked the app on all US middle- and high-school campuses so it couldn't be used for bullying. But past that I wouldn't call it a rampant problem. If anything the anonymous factor prevented harassment within the app, because between posts you couldn't identify anyone, thus no one could really carry grudges or become "popular." The main problems were the occasional bomb threat and the overall degenerate nature of some of the posts.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoBullying is a weird word for "harassment". > If anything the anonymous factor prevented harassment within the app, because between posts you couldn't identify anyone, thus no one could really carry grudges or become "popular." But you can say, "Jennie Ginger is a slut", and positively identify a real person in real life. Or you could just spout racist epithets. I'm not sure why I'm positing hypotheticals, when harassment was an actual, ongoing problem: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/technology/popular-yik-yak-app-confers-anonymity-and-delivers-abuse.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/technology/popular-yik-ya... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yik-yak-harassment_us_564367bee4b08cda3486e279 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yik-yak-harassment_us_56... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/07/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-yik-yak/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10... http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/technology/yik-yak-university-of-mary-washington/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/technology/yik-yak-universit... - sorry, auto-playing video (fuck you, CNN). This article is weird; I can't tell if it's blaming the victims, or the colleges, or the institution of college altogether: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/10/yik_yak_enables_bullying_and_hate_speech_but_banning_it_solves_nothing.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/10/yik_yak...