On Feb. 29, new social media platform Fizz was launched at Rockhurst as app ambassadors scattered around campus captivated peers with an enticing offer of a free Krispy Kreme donut and Fizz bucket hat in exchange for signing up for the app. The popularity around Fizz spread quickly among Rockhurst students, not without some tribulations of course.

Fizz, now owned by a Palo Alto tech founder, was co-founded by Stanford dropouts Teddy Solomon and Ashton Cofer tailored specifically for college students. By entering a valid university email address, users are immersed into a private discussion feed with only other students from their respective school.

Users can anonymously express their opinions by posting messages, memes, questions, polls and images. Each post can either be upvoted or downvoted. Students with posts with the most upvotes can climb their way up the leaderboard, all without disclosing their identity. Additionally, users can direct message each other where identities can then be revealed if chosen to.

Rockhurst students were recruited by Fizz’s marketing team to be both ambassadors and app moderators most commonly via LinkedIn, being told that they would be financially compensated for their work. An ambassador’s job was to spread the word about Fizz around the school, and they were offered $50 per three-hour shift worked on the day the app was launched at Rockhurst. They were also offered $10 for every person they recruited to be an ambassador too, and an additional $15 if they promoted Fizz on their Instagram story. The job of a moderator extended further, however, as their purpose is to remove posts that do not align with Fizz’s community guidelines, and they are required to post daily on the app. They get paid $500 dollars a month to do this.

The Fizz release day did not run as smoothly as some of the ambassadors had both hoped and expected. Starting at 8 a.m., ambassadors in the iconic purple and white Fizz bucket hats could be found on almost every corner of the campus,. They were sharing a QR code to download the app to those who passed by while offering a complimentary donut and hat for those who scanned it.

This was all running smoothly until about 11 a.m. when Rockhurst Security began to shut down the operation, taking the student IDs of those working the stands. Fizz did not get approval from the university to promote their brand on the campus, so they were unable to continue their marketing strategy.

In fear of getting in trouble with the school, many Fizz ambassadors quickly began to disperse from their stands, leaving their merchandise behind. Amidst the chaos, other students began grabbing full boxes of donuts and bucket hats from the abandoned Fizz stands to take home with them.

All Fizz ambassadors were still paid for the amount of work they completed before the closure and monitors are still being paid for their contributions as well. The Rockhurst students working with Fizz were not punished by the university.

Despite the incident, word of the app easily spread across campus, and it is still being used by students today. There is some controversy though as some people believe it is a platform that facilitates cyberbullying without consequences as posts are completely anonymous, even to moderators.

“Rockhurst is so small that everyone knows who one another is. So, if someone’s name or nickname is mentioned, it is easy to target that specific person and people usually know who it is,” said sophomore Lars Yarkosky. “Not knowing who posted something can make it hard to know what is a joke and what isn’t, so there will definitely be harmful posts that do not get taken down.”

Other students disagree holding the opinion that Fizz facilitates a safe environment where students can engage and connect over their shared experiences at Rockhurst.

“Moderators are able to take down posts that are mean,” said freshman Fizz ambassador Abby McMaster. “I think the app is hilarious and I love seeing what people have to say about Rockhurst.”

Regardless of the debate over the ethical intent behind Fizz, the app is run independently from Rockhurst University, so students can continue to use it if they choose to.