THEQUADRANGLE/COURTESY
By Mack Olmsted, Features Editor
The social media app Fizz launched at Manhattan College two weeks ago on Jan. 16, and proved to be a popular addition among MC students’ homescreens, prompting many to get creative with their posts.
Fizz is a private discussion and news feed app for college campuses. The app has features such as being able to send direct messages, post polls, memes and images and allows users the ability to up-vote or down-vote posts, similar to liking and disliking.
The exclusivity and privacy of Fizz’s college community is managed through the requirement of a valid university email address. Every MC student must log in with their manhattan.edu address to create an account.
Within the app, users have the option to be anonymous, share secret confessions and ask questions without anyone knowing who they are. The app has been described as being similar to the social media platform YikYak – the difference being that Fizz is exclusive to college students.
“My favorite part about it honestly is just seeing how creative people are,” senior Liam Rayder said. “The first day when I opened it, it was crazy seeing the jokes and memes people were posting. Some were having about 1000 likes.”
While the app is moderated, like any social media app, there’s potential for inappropriate content to be posted. This is where Fizz’s paid moderators come in and clean up the content, censoring and taking down anything that may be offensive or harmful. According to Fizz’s website, they moderate all feeds and chats for anything containing “hate speech”, “self harm” or “bullying”.
Before launch day, Fizz hired student ambassadors to hand out hats and donuts to MC students who joined the app. Their goal was to get 450 downloads on day one, a goal that they surpassed, with downloads being upwards of 500.
Launch day ambassador for Fizz, sophomore Elizabeth Provda, explained what the goal of Fizz is and how it can positively impact the MC community.
“It is a kind of social community at our school where I feel like there’s no room for judgment,” Provda said. “It’s a great source for communication with college students to reach each other. It is just cool to have a social media platform that is only for Manhattan College students. The goal is pretty much just to connect people with their peers, and build communities with schools online.”
Since launch day, many students seem to express gratitude toward the app, enjoying the platform with all of its features. Even students who are not on Fizz see what’s going on in the app.
Morgan Schuyler, a senior, thinks Fizz is interesting but has mixed feelings on the idea of the app.
“I don’t have Fizz, but I think it’s hilarious and I think there is potential for it to go a little cuckoo banana pants,” Schuyler said. “I guess I haven’t really seen much academic use of it. I think it’s just people being silly. There’s nothing too harmful though… It is just cool that all of the memes on there are Manhattan College tailored.”
MC students are actively enjoying everything Fizz has to offer. From joking with each other to posting announcements around campus, the app has much to offer to the college community.