Yik this, Yak that. There’s no doubt we’re all aware of the craze surrounding the new app targeted to college students. For those who don’t know, Yik Yak is an anonymous iPhone and Android app where users post short “Yaks” about anything and vote and comment on Yaks posted by others nearby.

While its intention is to be a fun, random message board written by anonymous people in a close vicinity, institutions and officials around the nation have recently been up in arms dealing with the repercussions.

Since it first released on the App Store in November of 2013, the app has spread to hundreds of campuses nationwide, captivating college students and their desire to say whatever, whenever.

But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. The app has come under fire with conflicts of cyberbullying, violent threats, and generally offensive content. The concept of anonymity is empowering and liberating, often leading people to vocalize statements that are less than appropriate, and much less polite.

What’s happening here is nothing out of the ordinary. Social media has created a platform for this kind of anonymous content to be published—and this trend of communicating has spread like wildfire.

Cam Mullen, the Lead Community Developer at Yik Yak, shed some light on what exactly the purpose and direction of the app is supposed to be.

“Our mission is to provide an open forum and give voices to those who might otherwise not have one,” Mullen stated. “We want to foster conversations and discussions that might not have been necessarily had before. The content is very different from other social media sites. It provides a general happening to what’s going on around you.”

And foster conversations he did. Anybody who has used the app could tell you just how obscure the content is. While one person is Yakking about an enthralling speech, another person ten feet away is posting about how badly they have to take a dump.

“Half of it is funny, half of it is annoying,” Tate Watson, a freshman pre-business major said. “Some people make me laugh, but others are just plain weird.”

Almost all of the weirdness and controversy can be attributed to the anonymity factor. When people no longer have an identity, the also have no filter. Mullen responded with his take on how to combat the inevitable.

“Typically, anonymity can breed not the best stuff online, but we look out for that in a variety of ways. First, down votes allow a Yak to be deleted if it goes below -5. Users can report messages to be taken off and we also have moderators watching the feed for offensive content and cyberbullying,” he responded. “With any social app there’s going to be a small percentage that misuse it. We’re working to lower that as much as possible, but at some level it’s unavoidable.”

Staking a claim in the online world is risky business, but few realize there is a much bigger picture for this app than its current state. People are so caught up in the implications of a select few trying to ruin it for everybody that the true benefits of this service have yet to show through.

“Twitter started out silly, but ended up turning into one of the world’s best news sources. For us, new features are growing Yik Yak in the same way,” said Mullen. “For example, Peek Anywhere is our newest feature that lets you drop a pin anywhere in the world and see Yaks from that place.”

Features like this are what propel a service like Yik Yak from a local bulletin hub into a global information source.

“It helps give people a clear, unfiltered, unbiased opinion on what’s going on right then. In a sense, it’s a reporter’s dream.”

Students are already starting to see the positives of the app, in spite of the lingering dispute. Its local context lends a sense of community that isn’t always present with other sites.

“The greatest thing about the app is that on game day you can see the rivalry between schools and it’s kind of fun,” said Shawna Chrisman, a junior business and English major.

These kind of posts are just the beginning. Between the community-driven force locally and its growing global application, Yik Yak could potentially be the next big thing. We just have to remember that it’s our responsibility to exercise our voice wisely.