Now, with over 1 billion users, including your extended family members and coworkers, it’s no longer a place where people can say whatever they want, without fear of repercussions. Those three all have messages that self-destruct after they have been read, but all of these apps potentially point to the changing nature of how we share information on the web.įacebook recently turned 10, and one of the laments about how it has changed is that when it started, as a closed circle of young people, it was a free place to vent about teachers, family and friends. We’ll get to that later.īoth Whisper and Secret follow on the heels of Snapchat, which has spawned imitators like Telegram and Frankly. How do you assess this info? Has vetted it somehow?”īut aren’t these rumours posted anonymously - or are the app creators somehow able to determine user identities? In this case, Zimmerman wrote that he was approached by the user before the gossip was posted.īut that doesn’t negate the problem that these “anonymous” apps are not really anonymous at all. On Twitter, New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo tweeted/asked: “The problem with scoops on secret-sharing apps. His stated goal at the app is to help make some of its content become more viral and popular. On Tuesday night, a user posted a rumour about married actress Gwyneth Paltrow allegedly having an affair with an entertainment lawyer, a one-line snippet of gossip followed by, “You heard it here first.”Īdding possible substance to the allegation is that the “news” has reportedly been vetted by Neetzan Zimmerman, Whisper’s editor in chief, who recently left his writing gig at Gawker, where he was the Midas of finding viral Internet gold. Whisper may be about to have its mainstream moment too.

Secret has been become a buzzy Silicon Valley darling, where anonymous posts about companies about to be bought are now being covered as news by sites like Valleywag. Secret sharing apps Whisper and Secret allow users to post information anonymously to their quickly growing communities. Why keep a secret, when you can share it anonymously online?

Whisper app cheating