海角大神

It鈥檚 unusual to see a tech reporter anticipating Internet safety problems with a new social app feature. So I was impressed with a about Secret鈥檚 forthcoming addition of 鈥淪ecret Dens鈥� for anonymous sharing in specific locations (like schools, companies and other organizations).聽

Launched early this year, is an app for sharing thoughts, 鈥渟ecrets,鈥� etc. (somewhat) anonymously with friends, friends鈥� friends or publicly (I say 鈥渟omewhat鈥� because the smaller the circle of sharing, the more easily recipients can guess who鈥檚 sharing, right?). With the Android version launched last month, users could also see anonymous messages shared nearby and not in their social networks (using geolocation). With the 鈥淪ecret Dens鈥� feature its developers are testing now, all this gets more clubby in an oddly sort of anonymous way.

Dens of anonymity?

鈥淎ny posts made in the Den are visible only to other Den members,鈥� according to聽. 鈥淎s with the anonymous mainstream Secret app, members of a Den aren鈥檛 given the identities of other Den members but they do get a notification when somebody joins 鈥� just not the new member鈥檚 name.鈥� And, PCMag.com adds, 鈥渁ny member of a Den has the right to remove anybody else from the domain.鈥�

Sure, this could be fun. But we know that when people are truly digitally anonymous, some percentage of their comments will be caustic, cruel, or uncivil. Any organization using Secret will want to be alert to the anti-social potential, (e.g., marginalization or promotion of self-harm situations) I just can鈥檛 help but wonder if it entered the legal or marketing minds at Secret how anonymous 鈥淪ecret Dens鈥� would play with parents. Are there no parents at this startup?

鈥淭his is an interesting move for Secret,鈥� Perez reports, 鈥渁s its two top competitors [ and ] have shown to place a priority on moderation and reporting features in order to combat bullying as well as potentially 鈥榯riggering鈥� messages that could provoke some users to engage in self-harm.鈥�

To that end, , one of the better known 鈥渁nti-social鈥� networks used by teens, has made strides to , in an effort to curb location-based bullying via its app.

Users聽need help sometimes

As for Whisper, besides heavily moderating posts (reportedly), it 鈥減oints some more afflicted users to its related non-profit arm, YourVoice,鈥� Perez reports. Although 鈥渘onprofit arm鈥� may be overstating it a bit (it鈥檚 a website), it is commendable that Whisper pulled together a diverse set of resources it could send troubled users to and not leave them high and dry.聽

links to articles, campus resources, support organizations and the .

I was glad to see links to the Lifeline聽and (the youth peer-to-peer support site) in there. But I was surprised not to find listed the for LGBTQ youth, the hotline for dating abuse in the Relationships category, or the 24/7 for teens 鈥� maybe I missed something?

Pro-social media companies

鈥淪ecret, on the other hand, has struggled with bullying in its early days, allowing public figures in the tech industry (not necessarily 'famous' people聽on worldwide scale) to be ruthlessly mocked for hours or days before the offending comments were removed, if they even were,鈥� wrote Perez in her TechCrunch piece.

I agree with her that Secret may not really be ready to let 鈥淪ecret Dens鈥� out in the wild (the feature is still in beta) 鈥� not until it simultaneously introduces proactive community moderation and a responsive abuse reporting system.聽

Does it really want to become an ? I believe that, in this very social media environment, there can鈥檛 ultimately be much place or success for anti-social media companies. As the social norms of this media environment solidify, investors and users will increasingly demand pro-social business practices, and social media startups that allow for social marginalization and other anti-social behavior will increasingly be marginalizing themselves.聽

Social norms develop in every social environment, including in media environments, and they are protective 鈥� they鈥檙e the part of 鈥淚nternet safety鈥� we鈥檝e barely begun to talk about.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. Anne Collier blogs at聽, and you can find this original post with relevant related links .