Anonymous apps tell the unvarnished truth
By Hiawatha Bray | GLOBE STAFF MAY 28, 2014
I mock my wife's fondness for celebrity news shows like Access Hollywood. Who cares about the doings of movie stars? But when I pick up my smartphone, it's her turn to jeer. Lately I've been staring at the screen for 15 minutes at a time, reading of the careers and romances and financial woes of total strangers and unidentified friends.
I'm dialed into a different kind of gossip show, served up by Whisper and Secret, two free online services where people reveal everything but their names. Here the conversations are bawdy, tear-stained, hilarious - and incognito. Soldiers gripe about Afghanistan, wives snipe at their husbands, children fret about their aging parents.
Beneath a curtain of anonymity, millions of Whisper and Secret users boldly say the unsayable, while millions of others look on with astonished, shame-faced delight. The experience may not be altogether noble, but it's certainly addictive.
Whisper's been around since 2012, and the company claims more than 3 billion page views per month. The service is utterly anonymous - Whisper itself doesn't know who's using it. When you sign up, you get a user name and a four-digit PIN number for identification purposes. Whisper also links the unique digital ID of your phone to your account. But you're never asked for a name or e-mail address.
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