A few weeks ago I received an email from the app company Fizz with the opportunity to make a quick $15 by promoting the app on my Instagram story, which I accepted. The app is emerging on many university campuses such as Pace, Vanderbilt and even here at Quinnipiac. But regardless of which campus the company targets, the app is a waste of time, space and potential.
A group of students created the app Fizz at Stanford University in 2020, and ever since, the app has been struggling to keep up with its competitor YikYak. Apps like YikYak and Fizz are targeted towards college campuses. Both apps use “upvoting” and “downvoting” as likes and dislikes. If a post is downvoted enough, it gets deleted from the feed. The apps use students’ locations to bring them relatable content.
YikYak has been popular on campus for years. It was naturally popular with college students around the country, with an easy transition from school to school. However, since the launch of the Quinnipiac version of Fizz, the new app has received mixed reviews.
I polled 20 Quinnipiac students through posts on both apps in an attempt to determine what students thought of both. When polled, the respondents said they favored YikYak over Fizz. Fifteen of the 20 surveyed students said that YikYak was more entertaining and 14 said that YikYak is the better app overall. Students expressed that they have yet to use Fizz and don’t plan to. Some replied with statements like, “What even is Fizz?” It’s clear the app hasn’t reached popularity as quickly as creators intended.
The content on the lesser-known app is questionable at best, but both YikYak and Fizz revolve around drama. Those who have used the app know of rumored scandals between important groups on Quinnipiac’s campus. While these scandals are not proven to be true, the app still facilitates the spread of misinformation. YikYak does of course have its own rumors and scandals, but none to the extent of Fizz.
YikYak also has added several different guidelines and rules to prevent slander and harassment, enforcing a “one strike” policy, where a user will be banned automatically after participating in any hate — important steps that Fizz has yet to take.
While there are risks with any social media app, Fizz has particularly become an outlet for bullying and harassment, more so than YikYak. The Spectator, Seattle University’s student newspaper, reported instances of bullying on Fizz, and we’ve certainly seen this at Quinnipiac as well. Students have also seen disrespectful comments on sensitive topics such as sexual harassment and violence.
The popularity of anonymous apps has been declining, examples being Yolo, SendIt and other apps primarily used by middle and high schoolers. The same fate can be predicted for Fizz. However, YikYak has survived through the years, with its popularity remaining steady. It’s been an established app now for a decade and has the audience that Fizz is struggling to reach.
Fizz is most likely going to decrease in use. Fizz is merely a trend — and is already fizzling out — taking its flawed technology and embarrassing desperation for users with it.
When it comes to the anonymous-posting app market, Fizz is no match for YikYak, which has proven to dominate across several university campuses, not just Quinnipiac. The Instagram for QU YikYak has 621 followers, while the Fizz account only has 130 at the time of publication.
It’s time I ask the question: creators of Fizz, what are you doing? Just quit while you’re behind. Fizz is simply wasted potential in the grand scheme of things; a poor attempt to reinvent the age-old concept of anonymous posting targeted at college students. It’s something that’s already been done — and successfully — by others before. It’s safe to say that the app is a Fizz-aster in every way.
