Yik Yak, a social networking mobile app founded in 2013, launched its web counterpart today. The startup’s key feature is the anonymity and location-based networking it provides to its users. For the past few months, the company has been working on developing the web version.
For previous users, they only need to input the same phone number they used on the mobile app to use the web version. Once they’ve verified their anonymous web profile, previous information from the mobile app will sync with the web version including Yik Yak Karma, comments, etc.
Here’s a statement from Yik Yak’s blog:
Whatever the situation, we want you to be able to yak without limitations! And part of helping you connect with the community of Yakkers around you means making it easy for you to do that in whatever way is most convenient for you. So we’re giving you the flexibility to yak away with your herd, whether that’s on your phone or your computer!
To prevent cyberbullying, founders Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll decided to integrate geofencing which blocks the app whenever a user is near high schools and middle schools. This decision resulted into a 70 percent loss of users.
However, the founders were confident that the only way to sustain an app like Yik Yak was to keep it safe. Eventually, the decision proved right, the startup raised $61 million in a round led by Sequoia. With its recent web launching, it might gain some users back.
