Francesca Tripodi, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Virginia, is working on a dissertation about Yik Yak. She observed comments on the app three times a day for an entire year and interviewed dozens of students who used it. “For the students who already feel they belong to the university, Yik Yak is reaffirming,” Tripodi said. “The jokes were particular to their community, their campus, what’s been going on around them. They find it really relevant to their lives.”