It seems the anonymous messaging craze continues to grow with new Apps being launched every week. Over the past few months I’ve looked at a number of them with the aim of keeping Parents informed on the Whats What of their children’s social media use and young people aware of how to protect their Online Reputation. Now Parents, you will be able to breathe a brief sigh of relief as this App is only currently available in North America and Canada – but nevertheless I still felt the need to write this blog ahead of its launch in other regions, which may be in the not- so- distant future. The App is called ‘Truth’. Basically how it works is you download it to your Smartphone (currently only available on IOS) Apple, but the developers are working on a version for Android. The App then allows you to anonymously message your friends via your Phone contact list. Now what’s different about this App, unlike others I’ve reviewed lately is that if the receiver of the message is not currently a Truth user ie they don’t have the App downloaded onto their phone, they will receive a text message showing them parts of messages to them with a prompt to download the App to view the full message. Then when you send a message via ‘Truth’ you are assigned an anonymous username and avatar. You can see how this sort of facility may fuel growth, with many people simply not being able to resist the urge to download the Truth App and read the full message. For me the unsettling issue arises around the fact that you can receive a message from someone on your phone contact list and have no idea who sent it if they choose not to identify themselves. No prizes for guessing how an App like this could become a tool for misuse. Truth has stated in its ‘Ability to Accept Terms of Service’ that users ‘affirm that you are older than 18 years of age’ but as we have seen, all too frequently in the past with most Apps and platforms who outline an age restriction, that enforcing an age limit is a near impossible task. The main difference with Truth, compared to other Apps such as Whisper and Secret who allow users to broadcast to a community, Truth users can remain anonymous. It’s founder maintains this is a more ‘personalized’, ‘meaningful’ and ‘one-to-one’ type of anonymous messaging. The App officially launched on April 1st (this is no April Fools I can assure you), in Canada after spending a number of weeks in Beta testing and during that time cracked the Top 100 in the Canadian App store. The App’s developers have said they have controls in place to monitor abusive content but without being able to test the App here in the UK, it’s difficult to see what these might be. One thing is for sure, it’s only a matter of time before this App makes it across the pond to the UK and Ireland so it’s best to be aware of it existence now Parents. To keep up to date with developments on this and other Apps follow me on Twitter waynedenner
