Social media latched on to our society more than a decade ago and has since sunk its teeth into the way we perceive communication.

It provided us an environment in which we can express our opinions to the world whether it wanted to hear them or not, and in turn we provided it unabated access into every facet of our lives.

Countless examples of cyber bullying on social media sites have been documented and few would deny its negative effects on a person.

However, on traditional social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, cyber bullying and other forms of hate speech has been attached to a name and a face. Those intending to hurt others or cause a stir have never had an easily accessible veil of anonymity within the sphere of social media.

But now, there’s an app for that.

It’s called “Yik Yak,” and the 11-month-old app is the newest social media craze to hit college campuses around the country. It works by conglomerating messages, or “yaks” – sent out by anonymous users – into groups based on location.

The lore around Yik Yak lies in its proximity of messages and in its anonymity. But we need to be mindful of its potential consequences. With anonymity comes risk, and with risk comes inevitability.

Fortunately, nothing of this nature has occurred on UK’s campus, and measures are taken to stave off a majority of offensive content (a certain number of “down” votes can eliminate a yak from a feed). But a message can do real damage with limited amount of time on a feed.

Last month, a University of Georgia student was arrested and charged with two felony counts of terroristic threats, according to the police. The charges stemmed from a message on Yik Yak that allegedly read, “If you want to live don’t be at the MLC at 12:15.” The student’s cellular service provider led UGA Police to arrest the student, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

There is a rationale when dealing with freedom of expression called the “marketplace of ideas.” This idea justifies a venue in which expression of any kind is welcomed. In this venue, any idea, no matter how outlandish, is welcomed, but will be suppressed and rejected to make way for better ideas to rise to the top. This acts as a type of safeguard so that freedom of expression can still exist.

However, we’ve seen websites such as Reddit and 4chan be bombarded with offensive language that receives “up” votes simply because of its offensive nature. On these sites, the safeguard imbedded within the marketplace of ideas is seemingly rendered useless because of its promise of anonymity.

Yik Yak provides a great opportunity for expression and simple, good-hearted fun. But be wary of the potential negative outcomes that can arise from complete, unabated anonymity.

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