With the end of the year rapidly approaching, the most iconic awards season is upon us… And no, it’s not the Emmys or the Grammys — it’s the YOTYs! Indeed, our Yik Yaks of the Year nominees have been the center of relentless discourse this year. Just to preface, Yik Yak is a thread-like social media that attaches to college campuses around the nation — think Reddit, but for Golden Bear daily happenings. Continue reading to find out our favorite trends and moments from UC Berkeley’s YikYak page this year. 

5. Upvote farming 

 

This section is dedicated to all of the UC Berkeley Yik Yak users who wanted to monetize good fortune for the sake of engagement by trading good karma for “Yakarma,” or Yik Yak’s equivalent to likes. Last year’s mythical “magic upvote pig” received scathing comments such as “that pig ain’t magic, you just want Yakarma…” Yet Yakarma farming is an infamous trend nonetheless. It gets students talking and maintains relevancy — with even Oski mascotting the engagement bait. So to all of the avid farmers, we recognize you and we hope you sow a fruitful 2025 Yakarma harvest. 

4. UC Berkeley regaining the No. 1 public university ranking 

What’s better than a little friendly competition? Winning that friendly competition! When UC Berkeley reclaimed its spot as No. 1 public university this past semester, all our UCLA friends were dumbfounded. On top of that, phone keyboards were ablaze and our thumbs hurt from posting on Yik Yak so much. UC Berkeley was No. 1 once again, and our passionate online presence reflected our triumphant victory. Perhaps this Yik Yak trend all started with a when UCLA initially dethroned us, reminding Golden Bears that “Frank Ocean didn’t say ‘brain like UCLA.’”

3. Late night library studying and natural disasters galore

After last year’s monumental tsunami warning, Golden Bears did not pass up the opportunity to Yak about it. A rumbling earthquake? It’s more fun to resort to Yik Yak than to duck and cover. Also, we can’t forget the iconic Yik Yak memes of Darth Vader midterm studying in Doe Library and a student studying in Moffitt Library’s elevator before it closed for construction. Why did we combine these two trends, you might ask? We think that library studying should equate Berkeley’s little earthquakes — they’re annoying and they disrupt our lives. And to respond to a Yik Yak from 11 weeks ago, yes, “mfs feel an earthquake and their first instinct is to go on Yik Yak,” at UC Berkeley at least. I mean, you might learn about disasters more quickly on Yik Yak than you would from WarnMe. 

2. Turning Point protests 

 

Regardless of Turning Point USA, or TPUSA’s, politics, it was exciting nonetheless to see UC Berkeley adopt a monoculture moment; everyone and their GSIs were talking about Turning Point USA coming to campus. This event signaled a wave of complaints of Fox News featuring protesting Berkeley students, as well as posts reclaiming the hyper-liberal Berkeley stereotypes, such as septum piercings and blue hair dye. Yik Yak did not fail to humor the political whirlwind, where red, blue and Golden Bears were sure to let out a chuckle. 

1. The Big Game 

Just before Thanksgiving break, Golden Bears suffered a loss … and no, we’re not talking about the beloved tennis courts of Bancroft. The Big Game was a time where all Golden Bears rallied together to poke fun at Stanford. Yik Yak flooded with students claiming that Stanford’s clock tower is a “Temu campanile,” and Cal Band “mogging” Stanford’s band. On the other hand, Stanford YikYak couldn’t stop talking about the “Berkeley dorks” who drove all the way to Stanford at 4 a.m. to play trumpets outside of the dorms. Even though we lost the sports battle, we won the Yik Yak war. At the end of the day, isn’t that all that matters?

Here you have it, folks. These are our five favorite Yik Yak trends and moments of the year. Have a favorite Yik Yak era we didn’t include? Consider posting this article on Yik Yak, if that’s not too meta for you.