These days, college kids are on Fleek.
No, not “on fleek” as in they are cool or good, they are literally on Fleek an app becoming popular on campuses as an unfiltered alternative to Snapchat.
“It’s like Snapchat, but with more boobs,” one Georgetown University sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, bluntly described the app to Tech Insider. The app started gaining popularity on the Georgetown campus at the end of fall semester in 2015.
Fleek, like Snapchat, lets users upload and share videos and photos that disappear after a set amount of time.
Users select their university and all posts are compiled into a giant story that can be viewed by anyone using the app.
Unlike what you see on an official Snapchat story, posts on Fleek aren’t moderated
Anyone can submit anything think nudity, kegs, and marijuana and it’ll go up on the app. Plus, there’s also a peek feature that let’s people who aren’t on campus take a look.
“I like that it’s not curated,” Georgetown sophomore Will Haskell said. “A lot of Snapchat stories are so highly curated and when you live in a major city like we do, you have such a low likelihood of seeing your Snap make the cut. Fleek feels more real.”
Of course, that’s not necessarily a good thing for a college campus.
“The stakes are definitely raised on Fleek because everything you send is going to go on the app,” Haskell also explained. “People are definitely going to see it.”
For the most part, the Georgetown students we talked to said the content on Fleek is harmless, if not a little NSFW.
But, as you might have already guessed, not every student is prudent about what they post on the app. And like Snapchat, it’s easy to screenshot a photo or video to save Fleek posts for later viewing or sharing.[related-posts]
“One of my friends posted a video of me that was pretty violating,” a female student, who also wished to remain anonymous, told TI about a video that was shared of her suggestively licking a lollipop. “Multiple people texted me about it after it happened.”
Fleek isn’t the only app on the market offering a potentially controversial look at college life. Yeti-Campus Stories offers a similar platform and faced criticism in 2015, after a video of an alleged sexual assault was shared on the app. Fleek has already been met with resistance at schools like Florida Gulf Coast University.
Still, at Georgetown, nothing serious has happened as a result of Fleek. At least, not yet.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Haskell said. “It’s really a problem waiting to happen.”
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