We all love using Kik Messenger as a free alternative to the standard texting app on our phones. Kik Messenger is a popular social platform that allows users to send direct messages to each other. While it’s always fun to chat with our friends, making it a valuable tool in daily life for staying connected with friends and family, eventually we want to meet new people in the Kik network. Many of us have probably spent time on a slow afternoon or late night typing keywords like kik party, kikme, drop kik, kiks, kikboys, kikgirls and their equivalent hashtags (#kikparty, etc.) into search bars on Facebook, Google, Instagram, or Twitter.
Whether we’re looking for invites to one-on-one Kik chat or maybe to join a Kik Party, there’s always a ton of results. Maybe as we browse the results we start to notice a new keyword and hashtag: KikPals. When we see that a lot of Kik users are employing this phrase to connect with others on Kik Messenger it’s only natural to wonder, “What Are KikPals?”
While we want to get right into what a Kik Pal is and where you can find one, there may be someone reading that sees the phrase but doesn’t know what Kik is, much less a Kik Pal. There should be at least a brief introduction to Kik Messenger so they can get kikking with the rest of us.
Kik Messenger Features
Since its release in 2009, Kik Messenger has become one of the world’s favorite social chat apps. You can find it in your app shop, where there is a version for virtually all mobile devices; you can also get your kiks on your home PC or Mac.
One feature that makes Kik Messenger such a fan fave among mobile users is that it is entirely free to download and use the app. This can save you a lot of money over using your smartphone’s basic text messenger because there are no limits on Kik Messenger use. You can send as many kiks with text, pics or images, videos, and more to anyone you wish, wherever they may be, and without a thought to what mobile carrier either of you is using. There will never, ever be a charge for message overages, cross-networking, or anything from Kik.
Kik Messenger users soon fall in love with the app for all the features it gives its users to enhance and expand plain ol’ texting to new levels of creativity and interaction. You can send text, pic, and video messages to friends one at a time or in a group chat. Alongside your own pics and videos, Kik has its own meme and .gif galleries that are totally free to use. Create your own meme right in the app with popular pics like the Picard Face Palm, the Angry Cat, or the Dos Equis guy. You can search right in the Kik Messenger app for viral videos to share in a chat. Brighten up your kiks with designs from Kik’s Sticker Shop and Smiley Shop.
You’ve Got A Friend 24/7
When you’re part of the Kik Messenger network, you are never without a friend for chat. If it’s the middle of a dark and rainy night and no one in your friends’ list is online, you can kik back and forth with one of the many chat bots in the Kik Bot Shop. Ask one bot about the latest styles, start an ongoing game of Zombie Invasion with another, and then hit up Tickers the Bot to play a quick game of Tic Tac Toe. Use the in-app browser for a round or two of Pollz. Don’t forget to visit the points bot every day to earn Kik Points to spend in the Sticker and Smiley Shops.
Of course, there is always going to be someone awake and wanting to chat somewhere in the world, and a lot of them are looking for a new friend on Kik Messenger. You easily can find them and make a new connection. Go to your browser or to a social networking site like Facebook or Instagram and type in keywords that Kik members use to find each other. If you’ve been on Kik very long, you’re probably familiar with Kik keywords like kiks, kik me, kik party, kik group, etc., and you know how to turn them into hashtags for Twitter (#kikboys, #kikgirls, #kikme, etc.).
KikPals
You may not be as familiar with the keywords, “KikPals” as you are the others. That term mostly likely comes from a sub-reddit that has been maintained for several years now by a redditor called Baldrad.
In case you haven’t heard, Reddit is “an online social media community where users vote on content.” It is an extremely popular site with more than 36 million of users registered and more than 850,000 sub-reddits. As of February 2016, Reddit receives over 231 million unique visits daily. You can access Reddit online from your home computer or by using the official Reddit app. It’s available for all smartphone and tablets at your favorite source for equipping your mobile device.
A sub-reddit is a forum or message board that serves a particular community within Reddit. One of the most popular sub-reddits is the “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) page. Well-known hosts of an AMA include Bill Nye, David Copperfield, Rachel Maddow, Madonna, and President Barack Obama. You don’t have to be famous to launch an AMA page. Just have an interesting true story and be willing to answer as honestly as you can when someone asks you about anything they can think to ask.
The sub-reddit for Kik Messenger users wanting to find new friends in chat is Kik Pals. It is hosted by Baldrad, who started the page as a way for people using Kik to connect with new friends around the corner or across the globe. The Kik Pals sub-reddit boasts 22,523 subscribers. You can sort posts by clicking on tabs at the top of the page. The two tabs you want to be sure to click are “hot” topics and “new” posts.
When Kik Messenger users post at Kik Pals, they agree to follow a few rules. The first rule is that you have to be 18 years or older to post a new thread. Another rule is to format your post title as, “Age [TAG] Additional Information.” Here is a snip of a recent set of posts at the Kik Pals page:
- The number at the front of the title is the age of the redditor that is posting. In the first post on the list, the Kik Pal is 23 years old.
- The [tag] lets you know, generally, the type of Kik Pal wanted. The format is “Me (looking) 4 ?”. Possibilities for either side of the tag are:
- Female (F)
- Male (M)
- Trans (T)
- Redditor (R)
- The description immediately follows the tag and lets you know a little more about the kind of person and chat the Kik Pal making the post wants to have.
When a tag has an “R” (for redditor) following the “4,” it means the Kik Pal is wanting some general chat with Kik Pals of any gender or orientation. The first tag in our sampling here is [M4R] and the description tells you he wants to chat about Eurovision. The next title is [M4F], which may mean that while the description says “good chat buddy,” he probably also wants to meet a nice gal to get to know in the traditional “M4F” way.
No Usernames
You will notice at KikPals sub-reddit that there are no Kik usernames in the posts. This is because Kik Pals does not want to make it easy for someone to spam Kik usernames with unwanted advertising or other troublesome material. To contact someone posting at Kik Pals, you have to send them a private message (PM). Since you cannot PM another user without being a registered Reddit user yourself, this provides at least a minimal level of accountability. While some users complain, the majority like how this particular rule makes it a better and somewhat safer place to post and then meet up with new Kik Messenger friends.
Outside the Sub-reddit
We are seeing the term “Kik Pals” more and more often as a part of Kik Party invitations on social media app like Instagram or Twitter, or in Kik Me posts on Facebook or Tumblr. Google has started a Kik Pals community, too. While the sub-reddit was the start of the phrase, it has come into its own outside the sub-reddit. We can add “Kik Pals” or #kikpals to our invitations to Kik chats and Kik parties without having any relationship with the original Kik Pals page. It now generally means any Kik Messenger member looking for other Kik members to be new friends in individual, group, or party chats.
ABC: Always Be Careful
“The internet has been a boon and a curse for teenagers.”- J. K. Rowling
The “no usernames” rule at the Kik Pals subreddit is a really good idea when it comes to online safety. Kik Messenger is one of the safest chat apps you can use when used correctly; however, we sometimes forget to be safe in the excitement of meeting a new friend.
While no one with your username will ever be able to find out more than that about you from Kik Messenger, that you will defeat all that protection if you tell someone your real full name, birthday, where you live, where you go to school or work, phone number, e-mail, or any other personal details. It is your responsibility to not disclose any of this information to anyone online.
It is also important that you know the safety net Kik Messenger has put in place for you. If you come upon someone in chat that makes you uncomfortable, you can block that user. They cannot tell you have blocked them, only that you do not read their texts.
Another way Kik Messenger protects you is that, should the person on the other end of a chat make threats, exhibit stalking behavior, or demonstrate any illegal activity, you should report the incident to local law enforcement. Kik has a page on its site that law enforcement agencies use to interact with Kik to keep users safe. Kik works with law enforcement only on these reports, however, so you must first make a report through your local police or sheriff’s department.
Find Some Kik Pals
Kik Pals are friendly people just like you that want to make new friends on Kik Messenger. You can find Kik Pals wherever you find people posting with other Kik keywords and hashtags. Now that you have the answer to, “What Are Kik Pals?” you can use it in your posts, too. Try it when you send out your next #kikme or Kik Party invitation and make more new friends than every before!