Aidan Sander
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — A group of Winthrop University students, hired to promote the anonymous social media app Fizz, were asked to relocate from their space outside the DiGiorgio Campus Center after they failed to adhere to campus promotion procedures.

Fizz, a platform reminiscent of the anonymous app YikYak, has garnered significant interest on campus.

During the first week of the fall semester, students were observed distributing flyers outside the DiGiorgio Campus Center, explaining the app’s features and offering donuts to those who registered.

These students, acting as Fizz ambassadors, were likely assured compensation by the company behind the app for their efforts in promoting it.

However, Ian Gresham, one of the ambassadors, said he “wasn’t given much information” about his role as an ambassador before being recruited.

“I saw my teammate running the stand, so I went over and she needed a little bit of help so I helped her for a bit. Then after we got kicked out,” Gresham said.

The student ambassadors were asked to leave after they were noticed by university staff.

“They just showed up, with all these postcards and all these boxes of donuts, and grabbed a couple of picnic tables,” said Miranda Knight, the assistant dean of students. “They were just out there stopping people and getting them to come over.”

Kinyata Adams Brown, the director of student engagement at Winthrop, said the students were asked to move, because they failed to complete the necessary forms for an on-campus promotion.

“If you are doing something in this (DiGiorgio) building that is of an external group, we actually have a vendor agreement form,” Brown said. “Whether it’s the Girl Scouts coming to do cookies or Fizz wanting to come and talk about their new company and new app, we have a process in which organizations can do that.”

Despite the rule violation, none of the Fizz ambassadors faced consequences, as Gresham said they “didn’t know about it beforehand.”

Additionally, Knight said she has some concerns about the new anonymous message board app.

“I already feel that Yik Yak can be quite toxic and Fizz might actually be worse,” said Knight. “I can understand how it can be fun and useful, but I do think that these apps can cause a lot of harm as people can easily be unfairly labeled and bullied.”