Students Engage with Anonymous Forums

Under veils of secrecy, Loyola students have been using anonymous platforms to engage with one another, whether that be through gossip or humor. 

Fizz, a campus-based social media app marketed around sharing information anonymously, took root at Loyola University around February 2025, and since then has continued to affect student life in negative–as well as positive–ways. 

The Introduction of Loyno Fizz

In November 2024, a new Instagram page, “fizzloyno” was created.

The account advertised Fizz, a relatively new platform that various universities used as an anonymous forum for students. Once the page got a certain amount of followers, Fizz launched at Loyola in the spring. 

Due to the specific guidelines of Fizz and the fact that it’s a systemized social media platform, mean-spirited comments are intended to be censored to prohibit specifically identifying students in negative ways. This policy aims to discourage cyberbullying and personal attacks. However, this does not completely erase the issue of cyberbullying.

Students Recognize the Flaws and Positives of Fizz

Students tend to recognize bullying more with Fizz than its predecessor, Loyno_Confess.

The core difference with Fizz is the ability to add photos to posts. This means that students could have their names identified, as well as photos of them too.

“If you didn’t know the person’s name, that was fine. Now you can add a picture of a person, and now we know exactly who they are,” said junior philosophy pre-law major Keyshawn Crawford.

Other students had different thoughts, citing humor as a positive aspect of Fizz.

“I think [Fizz is] funny, but at the same time, some posts, it depends on the classification of the bullying because I feel there’s a lot of bullying going on,” said freshman psychology major, Alexis Gnatenco.

Students recognize that this can be an issue and some wish it had better moderation.

“If there’s something up there that’s really personal or that’s just, like, not appropriate … or that could, like, really interfere with someone’s life, I think that you should be able to get that taken down really easily,” junior history major Abi Gallagher said.

While students acknowledge that there are harmful aspects of these platforms, they also recognize that part of the appeal is anonymity.

“I think the worst part is everyone’s anonymous, but that’s also the best part at the same time because no one knows who it is, but that means that students are comfortable saying anything,” Gnatenco said.

Fizz, however, is not the first anonymous platform to have this influence at Loyola. Loyno_Confess, an Instagram account active well before Fizz’s introduction to Loyola, was also used for similar reasons.

Usage of Loyno_Confess

Loyno_Confess was popularized way before Fizz existed on campus. Students would submit their confessions through an anonymous Google Form. These submissions would be posted by the admins of the page.

Whether it be crushes, inside jokes, callouts, or personal secrets, students were posting and engaging. Many confessions just stated how excited they were to check the page to get a good laugh or engage in some drama.

“I felt like we had a place to go to talk about things we couldn’t talk about in person. Sometimes it got out of hand and everything, but at the end of the day, it gave us a place to talk,” Crawford said.

Students’ Problems With Loyno_Confess

While a fair share of the student body remained engaged with the page, problems began to arise. Some students started to take issue with the anonymous admins of the page. Specifically, their choices to post certain confessions.

Some confessions would mention allegations of sexual misconduct. These posts would generate a lot of engagement and conversation, but some students were beginning to grow concerned.

Many believed these allegations were too serious for Loyno_Confess as the page was known for humorous and generally lighthearted content–like Fizz is now.

“I think that there was a big difference between posting some jokes about Loyola, students writing stuff out for their friends, and posting more serious accusations about students,” Gallagher said.

Loyno_Confess is Abandoned

You’ll notice if you look for the original Loyno_Confess page, it no longer exists. There has been no confirmation on why the page was deleted.

A new Loyno_Confess account launched in October 2024, but it got less engagement than the original and would stop posting completely in November 2024, right before talks of Fizz’s launch began.

Stella Perdue contributed to this story.