INSPIRING STRENGTH Five-year-old Greta Loewen is in Boston receiving radiation treatment for bone cancer A15
A B B O T S F O R D
FRIDAY
APRIL 17, 2015
Online all the time. In print Wednesday & Friday.
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Fencing in cyber-bullies
Local schools encounter social media app Yik Yak – ‘The easiest way ever made to insult someone’
PLENTY TO CHEER ABOUT A22 Valley Stars team headed
Tyler OLSEN
messages has often proven to be a recipe for conflict. Seeing messages targeting minoriFrom Facebook messages to ties, women and professors, several Snapchat videos, social media has American universities have pondered transformed the way young people banning the app. communicate. And into each digital In March, it came to Abbotsford, platform have slunk cyber-bullies – with students at several schools abusing feelings and reputations with discovering Yik Yak en masse, unprecedented reach and impact. despite a screen that requires Abbotsford student Kenton Palmer users to confirm they are bitterly labels a relatively new social at least 17 years old when media app that recently swept through downloading the app). several local schools last month as Over the course of a sin“the easiest way ever made to insult gle night, it seemed like people.” half the school Palmer is speaking about had downloadYik Yak, an easy-to-use ed the app, mobile phone program, or said Palmer, app, that allows users to see a Robert and respond to messages Bateman seccreated nearby. The app ondary Grade relies on smartphones’ GPS 11 student. capabilities and functions Anonymity is a feature of The number like an online bulletin board. social media app Yik Yak. of messages It’s also anonymous. Within skyrocketed seconds of downloading and at its peak, “there was the app, and without entering any a new Yik Yak post every personal information, users can be five seconds.” Classmates posting messages that can be seen by became even more obsessed fellow “yakkers” within a 2.4-kilometre with their phones. And while radius. the app could theoretically have It sounds like a fun idea, and a quick good uses, student Erika Voth look at the app shows users complainsays the most-read messages were ing about exams, and sharing their those that aired previously whispered stress about prom. But at high schools gossip for the whole school to see and universities in Canada and the – with female students the most freUnited States, the combination of hunquent targets. dreds of users in close proximity to one another exchanging anonymous Continued on A4
to Orlando for international cheer competition
Abbotsford News
ANTI-GANG FORUM A7 Hundreds attend community meeting addressing crime issues in west Abbotsford
ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES A7 Sparse turntout for public meeting on proposed changes to ridings
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