A day after 4chan founder Christopher Poole argued for the importance of online anonymity (and even called Facebooka4ぎa4г approach a4ぎAtotally wronga4ぎ), online video star Felicia Day offered similar sentiments on-stage at the South by Southwest Interactive conference.
Poole and Day were both keynote speakers at the huge Austin tech event. Daya4ぎa4г comments were just an aside in a longer talk about The Guild (the Web TV show that she writes and stars in), but I was surprised to see such visible pro-anonymity sentiment at SXSW, an event that I consider the capital of online oversharing. This is where an early adopter audience fueled the success of social networking services like Twitter and Foursquare, and where many social startups (including a number that tie into Facebook) are hoping to get a boost this year.
Poolea4ぎa4г comments were less surprising, since the 4chan image board is well-known for its anonymous community. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has argued that encouraging the use of a single, real identity online leads to greater authenticity, but Poole countered that anonymity gives users the freedom to be more unfiltered and more willing to experiment.
Day clearly embraces social networking services &8212' she has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter, and she said she loves to join new social apps so she can claim the a4ぎAfeliciaa4ぎ username before anyone else. She also acknowledged that anonymity can encourage some unpleasant, trollish behavior. Still, she said, anonymity has an important role to play online, because it frees people from the worry of being judged personally.
a4ぎAA lot of us are prevented from doing things because of failure and being shamed,a4ぎ she said.
And while Day didna4ぎa4д refer to Facebook explicitly, it was clearly one of the sites she had in mind when she warned against a4ぎAputting all our eggs in one basketa4ぎ and trusting one company with our online identity &8212' especially if that company wants to a4ぎAwall us offa4ぎ into one site and then market to us using our social data.
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Companies: Facebook
People: Felicia Day
Companies: Facebook
People: Felicia Day
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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