It was Weinberg freshman Audrey Curulewski’s first quarter on campus. Scrolling through Fizz, a college-specific social media platform, she saw an anonymous peer searching for a fellow musician to start a band with and drop out of Northwestern. She decided to play along.
Partly as a joke, partly to form a connection, Curulewski informed the mysterious maestro that she played guitar and was “sick of classes.” Eventually, she said, the person caught on and deleted the chat.
“I think he thought I was playing a practical joke on him,” Curulewski said.
Founded in 2021 by two Stanford University dropouts, Fizz expanded to NU in 2022. After signing up with student emails to verify school affiliation, students can choose to create a username or remain fully anonymous. Roughly 3,000 NU students currently use the app.
Students frequently poke fun at the University, Greek life, their classes and dorms on the platform.
Curulewski, who frequently appears on the app’s leaderboard of the most upvoted users of the last 60 days, joined two weeks after arriving on campus. She said she enjoys how the platform helps her relate to other students.
“Everything that I’ve posted that’s done well is something that a lot of people can relate to,” Curulewski said. “A lot of it is very centric to the Northwestern culture of nerdy, dumb stuff.”
Curulewski’s second-most popular post responded to an exchange where one student complained about the workload at NU. In the comment thread, another student argued that was the point of attending a top university. Curulewski quipped: “No, the point is to get to say I’m at a top university.”
The primary benefit of Fizz is that it allows students to share their unfiltered experiences, Weinberg junior Vincent Chen said. Behind the veil of anonymity, students do not fear being judged by their peers, Chen added.
“It’s probably the most authentic social media app I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Unfortunately, Chen said, the platform’s anonymity emboldens some students to insult particular peers by name, forcing the platform’s moderators to leap into action, deleting certain offensive posts.
The app’s community guidelines prohibit personal attacks, bullying and doxxing of other users.
Chen said he noticed that while moderators sometimes removed political posts and offensive jokes, posts concerning fraternities and sororities might be over-moderated.
Weinberg sophomore Harrison Schilling, who is one of the top 60 Fizz users of all time, said his post criticizing an NU men’s basketball player’s shooting accuracy was recently removed.
“I really haven’t seen a ton of hate speech because the moderators are pretty good on it,” Schilling said.
Despite the current guidelines, Weinberg sophomore Aliyah Durry said some posts are “a little over the top” and could benefit from more rigorous moderation.
Durry said the app made her feel like she was part of a community because other students shared similar experiences and beliefs.
“I personally enjoy how (Fizz) has a community of humor that you don’t get to see physically, out in the open,” Durry said “I feel like we can bond when we’re all on the same page.”
After the presidential election, Durry said she took a break from Fizz because she was annoyed by the number of political posts.
In one of her most upvoted posts, Durry criticized fellow users for using their anonymity to share their political views, which she said was “ruining the vibe” of Fizz.
The app also has a direct messaging feature, which allows students to anonymously connect with other students through their posts.
Weinberg and Bienen freshman Sean Qin said he has made several friends on Fizz. He goes by the moniker “the fizzzard of oz” and is currently ranked 13th in the last 60 days.
“On Fizz, you realize there is a community out for you,” Qin said. “There’s people talking about body issues, health care (and) politics, and no matter what side you are on, you find that there are a lot of people in it with you.”
On one occasion, Qin even posted on Fizz to “shoot his shot” — pursue a romantic interest — with another student, who ended up responding and messaging him. The conversation ended when the two realized they knew each other in person, which was “a bit embarrassing,” Qin said.
He described Fizz as an “inner thought chamber,” allowing students to share jokes that only other NU students would understand. In that way, Fizz unites the student population around shared experiences, he said.
“It’s nice to see a place on campus where everybody doesn’t feel restricted by anything,” Qin said.
Email: isaiahsteinberg2027@u.northwestern.edu
X: @IsaiahStei27
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