为什么一款简单的应用“Yo”火了？

An app that does nothing but send a simple notification of “Yo” to recipients is the most popular app right now in the US.

Created in just eight hours by Or Arbel， a 32-year-old app developer from Tel Aviv， Israel， Yo claims to be the “simplest and most efficient communication tool in the world”. With a single tap， users can send the word “Yo” to one another in a voice notification and nothing else.

Arbel enthused about his app in an interview with The New Yorker， “Its a whole new way for communication. A hundred and forty characters is too much these days… Its lightweight， easy， and you dont have to open a message—the notification itself is everything you need.”

When Yo was launched on April Fools Day last year， the Apple App Store at first rejected it on the grounds that it lacked substance. Many people still see the app as a joke. Some technology experts， like Polly Mosendz from a website and Judd Legum （a writer）， point out that the way a simple app like Yo got millions in funding says much about the impending burst of the tech bubble.

最近，一款只能向他人发送一个字“Yo”的手机应用风靡美国。

这款应用仅用8小时就开发而成，而它的开发人，来自以色列特拉维夫的32岁研发员奥尔·阿拜尔说，“Yo是目前全世界最简单、最高效的通信工具”。因为只需一个简单的按钮，用户就可以把“Yo”这个单词以语音提醒的方式发给别人，而这也是Yo的唯一功能。

在《纽约客》的采访中，奥尔对他的应用热情满满：“这是一种全新的沟通方式。在当今时代，发送140个字母实在太长了……Yo简短轻便，你甚至不必打开每条消息，因为你只需要提醒本身就行了。”

Yo在去年愚人节首发。一开始，苹果手机应用商店以“没有实质内容”为由拒绝发布；直到今天，仍有不少人认为这个应用就是个玩笑。不少技术人员指出，如此简单的一个应用能获得上百万的投资恰恰反映了技术泡沫的破裂近在咫尺，某网站的作者波莉·莫申兹与作家裘德·利格姆都持有此种观点。

Arbel calls Yo “context-based communication” and some people are beginning to “get it”. Jordan Crook， from Tech Crunch， explains why the context of a “Yo” says much more than two little letters： “As with anything， a ‘Yo can just be a ‘Yo. But youll feel a very real difference between a ‘Yo you get in the morning from a friend and a ‘Yo you get at 2 am from a friend with benefits. Trust me. And thats the magic.”

But people dont always want to load their “Yos” with meaning. David Shapiro， from The New Yorker， says now when he thinks about someone， he just “Yos” them instead of spending time starting and carrying on a conversation. He says its a great way of saying： “Im thinking about you but I dont have anything in particular to say.” Social media constantly demands our time and attention. Not responding to text messages and e-mails can hurt relationships. However， Shapiro says， a “Yo” doesnt seem to demand a reply. “What a relief，” he says.

Andrew Leonard says “Yo” also signifies something deeper. It “expresses our most essential humanity”. He says that the utterance of the word “Yo” is a declaration， first， that I exist in this world， and second， that I seek connection and community with something outside myself. Its like saying， “Yo… I am here. Is anybody out there？”

奥尔认为Yo是一种“依赖语境的沟通方式”，现在不少人已经体会到这一点。来自Tech Crunch博客的乔丹·克鲁克解释了为什么有了语境，“Yo”就能表达出远超出两个字母的含义：“如果没有任何语境，那么Yo只是两个字母。但是，你却能明显感觉到早上朋友发来的Yo和凌晨2点发来的Yo之间的不同。相信我，这就是它的魔力所在。”

不过，人们并不总是想赋予“Yo”具体含义。在《纽约客》工作的大卫·莎皮欧说，现在每当他想念谁的时候，他会给对方发一条Yo，而不是花好多时间网聊。他觉得发送Yo是个很不错的办法，告诉对方“我想你了，但是我没什么特别想说的”。社交媒体总是占用我们大量的时间和注意力，而不回复短信或者邮件则容易伤感情。不过，莎皮欧认为Yo就不需要用户有信息必回。正如他的感慨：“这多省事儿啊！”

安德鲁·里欧纳德认为，Yo表达了一些更深层次的东西，“它传达出了人性的本质”。Yo这个简短词汇本身就是个宣言：首先，我在这里；其次，我还想认识别人，和他人建立联系。这就好像是说：“嘿……我在这里呢，这儿还有别人吗？”