With the recent launch of ‘Cloak, an app that lets users avoid people based on their ‘check-in’ locations on Instagram and Foursquare, are we witnessing a new hunger for online annonymity? William Webb from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) looks at the rise of the ‘anti-social network’.
The new Cloak app, which will send you alerts when certain people are in your vicinity, is the latest in a line of ‘private’ or ‘anti-social media’ apps.
We’ve already seen the launch of WhatsApp to add instant messaging to Facebook – and Snapchat, which deletes photographs and videos seconds after they have been viewed.
There seems to be a growing move away from the all-inclusive style of social media championed by Facebook – to one where people can maintain a degree of secrecy and anonymity.
We could see this as social media ‘growing up’. Initially there was a lack of easy ways to connect and interact with friends and colleagues – but now this need has been widely met and we’ve moved to a situation of, in some cases, having too much connectivity. Innovation and new applications will allow us to become more intelligent and selective as we gradually learn how to use technology to interact better.
By William Webb
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
http://www.theiet.org/index.cfm?
