Of course, if you recklessly (or purposely) let on too many identifying details - say, by using a recognizable picture from your phone camera as a background - you could burn yourself, or someone else. The posts are delivered by generic avatars, and Secret's policies state that the posts are encrypted, so that a user's ID is decoupled from his content as it wends its way through the servers. A post's visibility is boosted as more people advance it by clicking a heart symbol to make it a favorite. You can deliver a pointed message - about an inept boss, or a dysfunctional workplace - and get a little rush of passive-aggressive satisfaction, knowing your target audience of acquaintances may receive it. Secret is arguably more tantalizing because it's pretty much faux pas-less social networking. Scrolling through the mundane posts about family, sex and personal struggles feels like standing in a shopping mall food court and overhearing TMI all around you. The user sees "secrets" from anyone, making it lower stakes. One of Secret's predecessors, Whisper, is another anonymous confessional app, but without personalized network integration. If a post comes from someone three or more degrees of connection away, it is simply marked by location. Here's how it works: Users post simple images, or monochromatic backgrounds, overlaid with text - the "secrets." The app connects to your phone's contacts list and allows you to see secrets from others in "your circle" who are primary connections, or friends of friends.
It's like LA for smart, ugly people."ĭeclarations like these - some plaintive, some fueled by professional frustration and some just plain gossipy - tumble forth anonymously on the new app Secret, and because many of them seem to be coming from within the booming tech industry, the app has built early buzz.īut if Secret, designed to maximize sharing and minimize risk, picks up traction, the whistle-blower-enabling capability of the app could have implications for a broad range of industries that would prefer their workers keep quiet. "The drug use in Silicon Valley is outrageous. "My friend who is a banker just told me he's working on Dropbox's IPO.oooh." "I'm worth 83.7 million dollars and bored out of my mind."