The popular Yik Yak application may seem like fun and games on the surface, but some Sacramento State students are becoming concerned with how their peers are using the service.

“I’ve seen some really awful stuff on the app,” said junior communication studies major Loren Jones. “I can’t believe some of the things people are willing to put out there for to see.”

Yik Yak is a proximity-based message board, developed to let specifically college students share their thoughts with those around them. The majority of messages are of typical collegiate issues, from a bad midterm result to a bad roommate situation.

What frightens some students about the app is its defining feature. Yik Yak messages are posted as either anonymous, the most common way, or under a temporary pseudonym.

You don’t need a username or even a password to post messages near your location.

But some students feel that the anonymity given through applications like Yik Yak or other services, run the risk of destroying the free expression that they try to promote against bullying and potential harassment.

“I remember reading a conversation by a few people about a girl in the library,” said Jones. “They described what she was wearing in detail, gave her exact location, and then started talking about the things they wanted to do to her. It honestly made me scared because I was in the same area.”

Jones immediately deleted the application after this occurrence, but admits that she often thinks about how many people are using the application on campus and what kind of things are being said.

The mobile application reflects the same main issues of giving anonymity to every person. While some will use it as a harmless public dumping ground of thoughts that cannot be associated with a name or face like on Twitter, there are those who will use the service to share personal information and openly commit libel upon other students.

“I remember in high school when my friends were all really into talking to strangers through Omegle,” said sophomore economics major Kevin Moore. “You’d get some really weird conversations going on that site, but I didn’t think it was too crazy. Just kind of fun.”

Because of the addition of close proximity, Moore said he feels that Yik Yak could be crossing into dangerous territory.

“It seems like someone could get hurt using it. I know most people use it for fun, but it only takes a few people sharing a stranger’s location and description before something gets out of control,” Moore said.

Web services that give their users the freedom to be anonyomous have always been followed closely by controversy. Omegle, Chatroulette, and the recently released Facebook Rooms have all suffered from content and privacy issues.

However, not everything is so bleak.

After learning about the multiple accounts of their application being used to spread bullying through high school campuses, CEOs Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington immediately began working on the less-savory side of Yik Yak.

The app’s rating is now listed for ages 17 and older and uses information from geographic data aggregator Maponics to prevent high school students and younger from accessing the application while on campus.

This still leaves the application open to the targeted demographic of college students like the Sac State community.

“It comes the ability to build a community through a fun platform, but also the ability to put our peers in danger if used without regards to others,” said David Blanche, senior English major. “I just hope Sac State students are responsible enough to understand where to draw the line.”

For now it seems most college students will continue to explore the uses of anonymity, all the while with the faint time-worn warning of, “don’t talk to strangers” still in the back of their minds.