Facebook to Launch Anonymous App: Could It Kill Trolls With Secret Identity?

Facebook to Launch Anonymous App: Could It Kill Trolls With Secret Identity?

Amid reports of cyber bullying that happen almost every day to thousand of online users, a social media-giant is set to make a new app that could end the happy days of the web trolls.

Facebook is reportedly working on a mobile application that will allow users to use a pseudonym instead of their real names, New York Times reported. Citing leaked information from two anonymous sources knowledgeable of Facebook's app, the mobile software will allow 'users to interact inside of it without having to use their real names'.

The said stand-alone app, led by social networks' Josh Miller, is set to be launched in the coming weeks. Miller and the rest of Facebook team have been reportedly working on the project since last year. The Anonymous App will "allow Facebook users to use multiple pseudonyms to openly discuss different things they talk about on the Internet."

This is not the first time that the social media company tried to develop an anonymous-kind of app. But still, this is far from Facebook's initial principle when it comes to identity.

Considered one of the social media websites that have the highest number of users, Facebook has initially promoted, and continues to uphold, using a person's true name and identity in order to trace and reconnect with his or her past acquaintances and far away relatives.

This idea, according to the company's chief product officer Christian Cox, made the website "special in the first place."

"By differentiating the service from the rest of the internet where pseudonomity, anonymity, or often random names were the social norm," Cox said in a recent post.

Tech Crunch cited that Facebook real-name-norm paved the way to a more civilized way of talking and sharing information. Because real identity can be seen on the spot, people tend to be less harsh to protect his reputation.

On the other hand, discussing controversial issues and expressing their own opinions are quite prohibited as users can be legally sued as their names and identity are readily available on their profiles. This means that 'anonymity enables vulnerable sharing but also disruption of this sharing, while authentic identity safeguards but also encroaches on open-hearted discourse'.

The new anonymous app will be Facebook's try in balancing anonymity and rational sharing of conversations. As the users remain anonymous as they share the no-holds-barred views, social network team will have all the legitimate information about their personality. This would mean that users will need to trust Facebook.

On the other hand, PCworld reported that Anonymous App head Josh Miller tweeted a series of hints about the app.

1/ Anonymous Apps: Identity isn't a product goal. Focus should be on what human desire you want to enable, not anonymity as the focal point.

— Josh Miller (@joshm) October 8, 2014

2/ Anonymous Apps: Even then, it's very hard to build retentive communities without "regulars". You need some sort of recurring identity. — Josh Miller (@joshm) October 8, 2014

3/ Anonymous Apps: Also, anonymous w friends + anonymous w schools breeds gossip. Can encourage positive use cases through product design.

— Josh Miller (@joshm) October 8, 2014

The anonymous app is likely to not have a proximity-based anonymity that has a record as a "breeding ground for school shooting threats and cyber bullying."

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