Posting Content, Collecting Points, Staying Anonymous: An Evaluation of Jodel

Abstract

While most social networking services require a registration and a user profile, the student app Jodel works in a different way, as it is completely anonymous, like its American former counterpart Yik Yak. This article comprises a comprehensive evaluation of the app, leading to a final assessment of its quality as an information service. To conduct this evaluation, the Information Service Evaluation (ISE) model from Schumann and Stock [1] is used. The users’ experiences were determined by an online survey with a total of 1,009 participants which therefore provided representative results. Furthermore, the expectations of the Jodel developers, regarding the user responses, were queried and the differences were determined according to Customers Value Research [2]. In addition, an expert interview with Jodel founder Alessio Avellan Borgmeyer was conducted. The survey showed that Jodel reached its target group, since 72% of the respondents are students. The users’ satisfaction with the app is extremely high. 92% of the respondents are satisfied with the app while 97% said that they would recommend Jodel. The network effect is therefore particularly pronounced. The used elements of gamification were discreetly but effectively implemented. The results of Customers Value Research showed, on the one hand, the accuracy of the developers assessing the participants’ responses and, on the other hand, that they are aware of possible vulnerabilities of the app. Overall, the evaluation showed that Jodel is a social information service of high quality.