What are Stories Anonymously?
Storytelling can be found across cultures, all cultures have some form of storytelling, but perhaps there is a unique storytelling tradition that is peculiar to a people, or perhaps, peculiar to a locality. For instance, you’d find storytellers from Kerala who are known for tales where the hero is always the woman, usually one the heroine has never met or only seen in passing and some people from West Bengal who tell stories about kubla khan. A storyteller might say something like:
“Once upon a time there was a woman who needed a ride to the bus station but, unfortunately, she didn’t have enough money to hire one. After some time she encountered an elderly man who looked like she could use a lift. She asked him for a ride and he let her in.
Why Stories Anonymously?
“People should try to be anonymous so we can have honest conversations,” says Anjana Vasan. “People are often afraid of talking about the things that are uncomfortable. I think our generation is getting older. You have people who were baby boomers before and now you have people who are in their late twenties and even younger. You can see that they are still trying to figure themselves out.”
The Promise
I had the honor of being asked to curate this group of writers. In the year since Anjana started the app, she’s curated over 60 stories from people in their teens to their forties. Some people write about their childhood, others about events in their lives that shaped them.
How Stories Anonymously Works
So, when you’re sitting alone at home with nothing to do, and you want to tell someone something, but maybe don’t want to talk about what happened or exactly what happened, Stories Anonymously allows you to send texts or photos and leave your story as an anonymous anchor.
When someone follows you, you can see who it is and their comment. The text or photo doesn’t appear until the message or photo is finished. It is kind of like allowing people to lurk but not really. In this way, Stories Anonymously removes the friction to sharing stories, no one knows how often you send messages, or what you said, so it feels like you could tell anyone anything.
Users can also share updates and jokes.
How Strong Is The Community?
Libel insurance is an important way for startup writers to protect themselves from false accusations, the fallout of social media campaigns, libelous letters, and worse. If you want to write a book, but you’re worried that some stupid blogger will find some way to make your work look bad, buy some insurance and keep writing. You could even write a book for your dog! But if you get a book deal based on one of your articles, buying insurance could help protect your reputation as an expert. And you never know when a competitor might try to ruin your career by false accusations.
Conclusion
The Tumbletroll train rumbles on, getting smaller and smaller by the day. Maybe now that it’s hit a certain level of population saturation, most people aren’t even upset anymore. If anything, they’re just bored.
Wanna know something? Even if you’re anonymous, the “troll” tag can still make you look shady, if you’re not careful. People talk. Whether that’s what you want or not, let’s say for argument’s sake that you do want that kind of privacy. The best way to ensure that you don’t come off as creepy or incriminating is to actually give people a reason to talk about you, rather than giving them a reason to not talk about you. And if you can have it both ways, that’s a win-win situation.