Paper Info
Title
"People Are Either Too Fake or Too Real": Opportunities and Challenges in Tie-Based Anonymity.
Abstract
In recent years, several mobile applications allowed individuals to anonymously share information with friends and contacts, without any persistent identity marker. The functions of these \"tie-based\" anonymity services may be notably different than other social media services. We use semi-structured interviews to qualitatively examine motivations, practices and perceptions in two tie-based anonymity apps: Secret (now defunct, in the US) and Mimi (in China). Among the findings, we show that: (1) while users are more comfortable in self-disclosure, they still have specific practices and strategies to avoid or allow identification; (2) attempts for deidentification of others are prevalent and often elaborate; and (3) participants come to expect both negativity and support in response to posts. Our findings highlight unique opportunities and potential benefits for tie-based anonymity apps, including serving disclosure needs and social probing. Still, challenges for making such applications successful, for example the prevalence of negativity and bullying, are substantial.
Year
DOI
Venue
2017
10.1145/3025453.3025956
CHI
Keywords
Field
DocType
Anonymity, social media, self-disclosure, CMC, Secret, Wumii, Mimi
Internet privacy,Social media,Computer science,Negativity effect,Self-disclosure,Deidentification,Anonymity,Perception
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.42
29
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Xiao Ma125234.88
Nazanin Andalibi212516.28
Louise Barkhuus31273102.25
Mor Naaman44783318.39