To ‘Fizz’ or not to ‘Fizz’
USD students’ new way of getting gossip
Karisa Kampbell / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / The USD Vista
Colin Mullaney / Copy Editor / The USD Vista
The beginning of the spring semester brought a new social media platform to USD for Toreros to connect with each other: Fizz. Similar to its social media predecessors Yik-Yak and Reddit, Fizz allows students to anonymously post content such as memes, polls, or confessions to an exclusively USD feed. This content is then “FizzedUp” by the community, or “FizzedDown” based on the popularity of the post.
According to the app’s developers on the App Store, Fizz allows users to “Say what you want, when you want, and maintain full control over your anonymity.”
Founded by first-year Stanford students in the fall of 2020, Fizz was founded in order to help overcome the social barriers placed due to strict COVID-19 restrictions, which made it nearly impossible to form authentic connections. According to their website, Fizz is a campus-specific platform that “facilitates authentic conversation” and presumably enables personal relationships, using the direct message feature. However, by far the most prominent component of the app is the memes.
From students taking swipes at USD Parking Services to inside jokes about clapping when someone breaks a plate in the SLP, Fizz hosts a variety of memes that are specific to the USD community.
Although everything is anonymous on Fizz, there are community guidelines that need to be followed in order to stay on the app. According to the Fizz website,these guidelines include “no bullying or personal information, no hate speech, no misinformation, or spam posts.” Fizz also prohibits posts that include obscene texts, promote illegal activity, or incite violence to oneself or others. Public posts are moderated by fellow students who attend the universities where Fizz is available. These moderators’ job is to ensure that Fizz posts are following specific community guidelines, at their specific university.
USD first-year Makeez Sekander shared her views on the new social media app.
“I’m on Fizz, a lot actually. It’s an interesting app, the concept I like. It’s really funny, I can’t even lie. For sure it’s toxic, like especially the sororities and fraternities and some of the comments. Lately now they’ve been name-dropping on there, and it’s getting a little toxic,” Sekander said.
While some find this platform very entertaining, others have deleted the app due to the amount of time they found it was consuming.
USD junior Ryan Harris shared his reasons for leaving the controversial app.
“I think Fizz could be a good and a bad thing for the campus. I deleted Fizz, I don’t even use it anymore,” Harris said. “I was starting to spend time on it, like it was another social media. I just got rid of it, because it was taking up too much [of my] time, like it was TikTok or Instagram, but it could be used in either good or bad ways.”
The USD Vista reached out to the USD Fizz Instagram, however the account never responded to our inquiry.
Fizz has created an anonymous community board for the USD campus, and is sure to continue being a source of entertainment and connection for students.