Facebook Rumored To Be Launching “Anonymous” App

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Facebook Inc. ( FB) has faced criticism for forcing its users to disclose personal information, before they can use fully utilize the service. With the rising popularity of rival social networking site Ello, reports suggest Facebook is currently working on an app that will allow people to post anonymously.

Facebook has in the past has been very adamant on its identity policy. According to Chris Cox, the company's chief product offer, 'It's part of what made Facebook special in the first place... by differentiating the service from the rest of the Internet where pseudonymity, anonymity, or often random names were the social norm.' The social media giant has continued to defend this stance, since 'it works for them.' However, with the development of this new app, it seems the company is now willing to experiment with different levels of anonymity and user secrecy.

The app project is currently headed by Josh Miller, who joined the company when Facebook acquired Branch, a startup that worked on setting up small scale online discussion forums. Mr. Miller currently works as a product manager at Facebook. The idea of the app is quite simple and takes inspiration from the multitude of anonymous Internet forums, such as Reddit and 4chan. Users will be able to use pseudonyms to post text and images, while being able to openly discuss taboo or controversial topics.

What remains to be seen is how the app will integrate with the main Facebook system and if it will be tied to a user's account. How it will handle friend interactions, connections, and invitations is unknown yet. It is likely that the anonymous feature won't be connected to the social media site at all.

This independence could potentially be very useful to users since their anonymous participation will continue to stay separate from their 'real' identities on Facebook. Facebook has garnered quite a reputation for having 'real' users. Many ad agencies use Facebook to bombard susceptible customers with an array of advertisements.

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