As Clive Thompson recounts for CBC, anonymous users of social media and message boards are just as likely to post negative content as logged in users, whether they use a pseudonym or not. This thought goes against the popular wisdom of anonymous commenters feeling freer to use negative emotions in discussion, yet makes sense in cases where having a name attached to a comment inhibits freedom of expression.

What anonymity does allow is more openness. The tagline for one of the more popular anonymous messaging apps right now, Secret, is “Share with your friends, secretly. Speak freely.” The implication there is that the mental filters that we place on ourselves in public discourse, where our identity is known to all participants, are themselves inhibited when we allow the ability to distance ourselves from statements equally with those around us. Secret still revolves around social circles that you have created, but gives a sense of plausible deniability to attributing any statements to an original author.

Contrast this with Whisper, another popular anonymous messaging service. Instead of working in a limited social group, messages there are displayed to all users of the service. The messages are placed on “cards”, which are photo backgrounds with text overlaid, reminiscent of the PostSecret movement (which at one time had it’s own app, albeit with an entirely different function). In this case the messages are more impersonal, as they are not intended for a specific group of individuals to read them. When the specificity of directed postings, such as comment boards or directed replies is removed, the pleasure that comes from targeted barbs is removed as well. Why lash out when no one will be hurt?

There is a reason that anonymous communication tools are rapidly proliferating, while a move such as YouTube comments being tied to Google Plus profiles is met with ridicule and outright hate. Ultimately, the role of anonymity in digital communication has less to do with the ability to hurt than the ability to become open. Anonymity allows communication to occur that otherwise would not without the need to connect to offline identities.

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