Site Information

The purpose of this research is to see what age groups are posting most negatively in anonymous online settings.

Formspring.com:

Formspring is a website where users are able to create an account where anyone can anonymously post questions.  The user is then able to post an answer to the question.  Users are able to link their accounts with other various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger.  Formspring has generated controversy because of the nature of its anonymity.  Many people (especially the younger generation) have experienced bullying due to the openness and anonymity of the questions that can be posted.

CollegeACB.com:

CollegeACB is short for College Anonymous Confession Board.  This websites allows students from over 500 different colleges and universities to anonymously post about their specific school.  CollegeACB inevitably serves to promote gossip and rumors on campuses all over the nation.  Like Formspring, it generates controversy because of the negativity that accompanies the site.

Postsecret.com:

Post secret is an ongoing community mail art program.  People can literally mail in secrets on postcards.  Secrets are then uploaded to the web via postsecret.com.  Books of all of the secrets have also been published.  The anonymity of the organization allows people to be completely honest and open.

Annotated Bibliography

Hlavach, Laura, and William H. Freivogel. "Ethical Implications of Anonymous Comments Posted to Online News Stories." Journal of Mass Media Ethics 26.1 (2011): 21-37. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

This article addresses the issue of people anonymously posting comments online.  Many commenters do not filter their words and the posts often become offensive.  The article basically speaks about the issue of anonymity within websites that allow postings from users.

Woong Yun, Gi, and Sung-Yeon Park. "Selective Posting: Willingness to post a message online." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 16.2 (2011): 201-227. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

This article evaluates the differences between anonymous posting and nonanonymous posts.  The article explores the testing of willingness to speak out in posts.  It also speaks to the idea of the traditional communication theory.  The scholars used a "2X2 factorial design" to test the willingness to speak out in an online discussion forum.

Foster, Sophie. "4. Who let the blogs out? Media and free speech in post-coup Fiji." Pacific Journalism Review 13.2 (2007): 47-60. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

In this article, Fiji is mentioned in that anonymous blogs allowed people to safely express their anti-coup views.  On the other hand, these blogs sometimes became racist or offensive.  It explores the idea of how the anonymity of the blogs provided safety for the users to post their true feelings and opinions.

Gsell, Lindsay. "Comments Anonymous." American Journalism Review 31.1 (2009): 16-17. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

This article talks about the problems spam, profanity, and harassment that occur as a result of anonymity on the internet.  It discusses ways to regulate and prevent the negative (and anonymous) posts being received by American newspapers online.  The new policy included requiring user registration, which takes away from the idea of complete anonymity therefore lessening negative posts. 

Hua, Qian, and Craig R. Scott. "Anonymity and Self-Disclosure on Weblogs." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12.4 (2007): 1428-1451. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

This article details why bloggers feel more comfortable being anonymous.  Many bloggers feel uncomfortable revealing their identities and fear negative consequences in response to what they write.  The research from this study shows that increased visual anonymity is not associated with more self-disclosure.


Sokol, Dominika, and Vit Sisler. "Socializing on the Internet." Global Media Journal: American Edition 9.16 (2010): 1-34.Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 May 2011.


This article evaluates four different sections of socializing on the internet.  The first section is about the intensity and frequency of internet use.  The second section is about the gender and identity of the user.  The third section speaks about users meeting other users in person instead of anonymously online.  Lastly, the fourth section talks about how users feel about using the internet for social interaction with other users.

Wong-Lo, Mickie. "Cyberbullying: Responses of adolescents and parents toward digital aggression."Dissertation Abstracts International, A: The Humanities and Social Sciences. 71.3 (2010): Print.

This article talks about cyberbullying, how it comes about, and how it is characterized.  It has statistics about the amount of cyberbullying that occurs among adolescence.  The study is credible through its use of anonymous surveys.  The study shows that many parents of adolescences are not  knowledgeable about cyberbullying or their child's involvement with cyberbullying.

Stieglitz, Eric J. "ANONYMITY ON THE INTERNET: HOW DOES IT WORK, WHO NEEDS IT, AND WHAT ARE ITS POLICY IMPLICATIONS?." Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 24.3 (2007): 1395-1417.Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 May 2011.

This article talks about why people like to remain anonymous on the internet.  It also contrasts the U.S.'s regulations on internet and privacy with that of China.  It touches on how the Government should realize how censorship can affect internet users and push them into even more anonymous internet use.

Kennedy, Helen. "Beyond anonymity, or future directions for internet identity research." New Media & Society 8.6 (2006): 859-876. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 May 2011.

This article studies whether or not anonymity is a useful focus for studies of sociocultural studies of internet identities.  This article also talks about the claim of internet identities remaining anonymous.  It also touches on the concept of internet anonymity being limited.

Markman, Kris M., and Craig R. Scott. "Anonymous Internet? Questioning Common Perceptions of Online Communication By Investigating Email Usernames." Conference Papers -- International Communication Association (2005): 1-41. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30 May 2011.


This study researches how identity is connected with anonymity associated with email usernames.  It studies how anonymous people feel using different common usernames. The study concluded that email usernames were thought to be highly identifiable even though they are considered anonymous.

Data, Methods, and Ethics

First Data Set:

To collect my first set of data, I looked at the "formspring" accounts of three females and three males, ages 16-18, everyday for a two week period (May 10, 2011- May 24, 2011).  I looked at every post for two weeks and decided if the post was positive, negative, or neutral.  

I coded the data using the following guidelines:

Positive: Any comment complimenting the user or using positive words

Example: "You looked hot in those prom pictures"

Negative: Any derogatory comment toward the user or any person

Example: "Ur face looks like it got hit by a baseball bat"

Neutral: Any comment asking a question that is neither negative or complimentary. 

Example: "What color is your car?"

I chose this data because I wanted to see if people in the 16-18 year old age group were posting negatively or positively in an anonymous setting.

I did not ask for informed consent because the posts were public.  I did not use any names or personal information.

Second Data Set:

To collect my second set of data, I looked at the posts on "collegeacb.com" in the Santa Clara University section.  I used all posts.  I looked at both the questions posted and the replies.  I then decided if the original posts and the replies (separately) were positive, negative, or neutral. 

I coded the original posts using the following guidelines:

Positive: Any post speaking positively about a group or person.

Example: "Joe Smith*...quite a nice guy"

Negative: Any post speaking negatively about a group or person.

Example: "Tri Delta* is weird: So i was just at tridelta* and i felt like i had to report how it was...bunch of creepy guys there haha i feel like tridelts* are all creepy"

Neutral: Any post asking a question.

Example: "Engineering School"

*changed name

I chose this data because I was interested in seeing if college aged students were asking positive or negative questions in an anonymous setting.

I did not ask for informed consent because the posts were public.  I did not use any names or personal information for my analysis of the data.

I coded the replies to the original posts using the following guidelines:

Positive: Any reply speaking positively to the original post or about someone.

Example: "Don't hate, she is a nice girl."

Negative: Any reply speaking negatively to the person who posted or the topic of the post.

Example: "The 'point' of them is for those kids who can't make friends normally so they have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to buy some friends."

Neutral: Any reply talking about a different topic or asking a question.

Example: "What about Kappa?"

Third Data Set:

To collect my third set of data, I looked at "postsecret.com" everyday for two weeks (May 10, 2011- May 24, 2011).  I decided if each post was positive, negative, or neutral.

I coded the data using the following guidelines:

Positive: Any post showing happiness or excitement.

Example: "THIS WEEKEND WAS MORE FUN THAN I THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE IN ADULTHOOD."

Negative: Any derogatory post or a post that showed sadness or pain.

Example: "YOU ARE NOT A schizophrenic.  You've just done A FUCK TON of drugs.  Get it right."

Neutral: Any post that was neither positive or negative.

Example: "I am a journalist and I am commenting on my own articles."

I did not ask for informed consent because the posts were public.  I did not use any names or personal information.

I chose this data because I wanted to see if people of all ages were sharing negative or positive secrets anonymously with complete strangers. 

Analysis

These are the three main points that I cam covering in my analysis:

1.  I am exploring the negative effects of anonymity on the internet.

2. I am looking at different age groups in order to get a better idea of how negativity changes depending on age groups.

3. I was not surprised to see that the most negativity came from college aged students.

Formspring.com (Females ages 16-18)

The following graphs are for the data from the three junior females in a two week period:

Coding:

Positive: Any comment complimenting the user or using positive words

Example: "You looked hot in those prom pictures"

Negative: Any derogatory comment toward the user or any person

Example: "Ur face looks like it got hit by a baseball bat"

Neutral: Any comment asking a question that is neither negative or complimentary. 

Example: "What color is your car?"

The following graph is a total of all posts from the three different subjects in the two week period:

Formspring.com (Males ages 16-18)

The following graphs are for the data from the three junior males in a two week period:

Coding:

Positive: Any comment complimenting the user or using positive words

Example: "You looked hot in those prom pictures"

Negative: Any derogatory comment toward the user or any person

Example: "Ur face looks like it got hit by a baseball bat"

Neutral: Any comment asking a question that is neither negative or complimentary. 

Example: "What color is your car?"

The following graph is the average number of positive, negative, and neutral posts for the data set for males: 

The following graph is the average of all female's and male's positive, negative, and neutral posts:

From my archived data from Formspring.com, I saw three different trends.  The first trend is that in the female category, more questions were asked as a whole.  I realize that most of the questions were neutral, however this number is significantly higher than that of the male category.  Many of the questions asked to the females were about random topics.  Example: "What color do you want your dinosaur to be?"

The second trend I observed was that the males had significantly higher numbers in the category of positive posts than the females.  Rather than hateful messages or questions, the males were receiving more complimentary posts.  Example: "You looked so hot yesterday."

The third trend is that taking each sample individually, the neutral comments were most prevalent, followed by positive comments, and lastly followed by negative comments.  I think that the high number of neutral comments is due to what seems to be ongoing conversation between one poster and the user.  Example: 1st post: "Hey how are you?" Reply: "I'm good how are you?" 2nd post: "awesome we should hang out sometime."   I think that negative comments were the second most prevalent because of the anonymity of the setting.  The posters have nothing tying them to the negative post and therefore are more likely to post negatively.

CollegeACB.com (college aged subjects)

The following chart is for the original posts on collegeacb.com:

Coding:

Positive: Any post speaking positively about a group or person.

Example: "Joe Smith*...quite a nice guy"

Negative: Any post speaking negatively about a group or person.

Example: "Tri Delta* is weird: So i was just at tridelta* and i felt like i had to report how it was...bunch of creepy guys there haha i feel like tridelts* are all creepy"

Neutral: Any post asking a question.

Example: "Engineering School"

The following chart is for the replies on collegeacb.com:

Coding:

Positive: Any reply speaking positively to the original post or about someone.

Example: "Don't hate, she is a nice girl."

Negative: Any reply speaking negatively to the person who posted or the topic of the post.

Example: "The 'point' of them is for those kids who can't make friends normally so they have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to buy some friends."

Neutral: Any reply talking about a different topic or asking a question.

Example: "What about Kappa?"

By analyzing the data from CollegeACB.com, I was able to see that college students were significantly greater contributors to negative and hostile posts in an anonymous online setting.  Example: "She is so ugly." I hypothesis that this is because of the average age group of people attending college.  They too feel no attachment to the negativity in their posts because everything is anonymous.  There is also a large pool of people to "attack" via negative posts on this website.  The poster can choose any topic they want to write about in contrast to formspring where the posters are somewhat limited to the user they are writing to.  

Postsecret.com (unknown ages)

The following graph is for the data from postsecret.com in a two week period:

Coding:

Positive: Any post showing happiness or excitement.

Example: "THIS WEEKEND WAS MORE FUN THAN I THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE IN ADULTHOOD."

Negative: Any derogatory post or a post that showed sadness or pain.

Example: "YOU ARE NOT A schizophrenic.  You've just done A FUCK TON of drugs.  Get it right."

Neutral: Any post that was neither positive or negative.

Example: "I am a journalist and I am commenting on my own articles."

Postsecret offers an online community for users of all ages.  I hypothesis that the number of negative posts was significantly lower because the site has such a wide variety of users.  Because we cannot specifically label each post with an age, it does not give us a good idea of of the negativity being posted in this anonymous online setting.

Conclusions and Reflection

When undertaking this project I hypothesized that I would find a great deal of negativity in anonymous settings online.  By exploring the topic of internet anonymity I proved my hypothesis.  This study reveals the negative components that come along with internet anonymity.  It shows the differences in negativity in age groups and settings. In revealing the negativity that goes hand in hand with anonymity, my study contributes to the study of new media.  Specifically, my study contributes to the study of the negative side to new media and internet anonymity.

In conducting this research, I examined how anonymity is becoming a way for people to post negatively online.  After collecting my data I asked why people felt comfortable posting negatively when they were anonymous.   Although the data cannot explain all variation, I hypothesize the following potential explanations: 

Formspring:
friend network: smaller victim pool
CollegeACB:
school network: larger victim pool
Postsecret:
no network: no victim pool


I hypothesize that because the CollegeACB users had a very large pool of potential subjects to post negatively about, it was mostly negative posts.  The formspring data set had a pool of only people in their friend network with access to the formspring profiles, showing less negative posts-- bringing up the question of: is it really anonymous if it is within the friend network?  Because formspring is within a network of friends it is more common to see neutral comments because of what I think may be the fear of not being anonymous.  And lastly, Postsecret had no "victim pool", causing it to have very little negativity.  Because there are no specific people for others to post negatively about, the majority of the posts were positive or neutral.  


Postsecret in contrast to CollegeACB and Formspring, does not have a specific person or post that is being responded to.  Formspring has a specific person to whom the questions are being asked, and CollegeACB has a specific post that is being responded to.  Postsecret on the other hand, is not responding to anything, and doesn't have a "victim pool."


Further research can be done concerning WHAT people are anonymously posting and what the EFFECTS of these negative posts are on the subjects/"victims".

Multimedia Links

Here are the sites I used for my data sets:
PostSecret
CollegeACB
Formspring

Here are additional anonymous sites that allow posting:

Like A Little

Secret Talk