Mathew Biadun | Contributing Writer
Carts found by Science and Webb Halls last week offered free donuts to Eastern students. The catch? Students had to download a new social media app called ‘Fizz’, where the user-base is only ECSU Students, and where everyone is 100% anonymous. The after-effects in the following days have been shocking.
Taking a look at the top-liked posts shows the cynical and tabloid-esc nature that the platform has adopted. The number one post (with over 1,300 upvotes) bemoans the state of Eastern on the weekends, when many students return home, leaving the campus a ‘ghost town’ according to one comment. The next top three posts, all with over a thousand likes, regards rumors on campus about happenings within Mead Hall. The post after that promises that a student would drive a piece of construction equipment outside of Webb if their post got over five hundred upvotes. It currently rests at 1,200. The ‘crane’ has not yet been driven; however, campus police have been guarding it to make sure it remains that way.
The next few posts offer something of a positive spin on this otherwise pessimistic platform. They joke about student interviews, students using motorized vehicles, and a rather-wholesome appreciation post for the homeless man who frequents Eastern on a bicycle. The ninth-highest and tenth highest posts, meanwhile, show a return to the prior negativity, regarding the propensity of posts discussing student attractiveness and CAB’s concert-artist choices respectively.
The app has thus-far been filled with rather defeatist and bleak posts. Rumors, insults and complaints, or otherwise vexed humor run amuck on the platform. However, this hasn’t seemed to discourage use of it. Over a thousand people, at least a third of the Eastern student body, use the app actively enough to vote on it. A poll asking students if Fizz was good or bad showed almost perfectly split results, 51% good to 49% bad, with over three hundred responses.. The negativity of the app either seems to be something people don’t mind, or even something that draws in users.The anonymous nature also undoubtedly attracts people who desire to share opinions, jokes, and gossip without possible social backlash.
*Please note that Eastern and the Campus Lantern are completely separate from Fizz and any activity on it. To keep you and your fellow students safe and respected, we explicitly dissuade any Eastern student from spreading malicious rumors or jokes, as they can take much more of a toll on someone than you realize.
Bibliography Poll: https://fizzsocial.app/post/VqAF9RNfEGJBHgBE7