WebProNews

Tag: Pseudonyms

  • Facebook Is Asking Users If Their Friends Are Using Their Real Names

    Facebook doesn’t allow users to use fake names. Sure, people use them all the time, but technically, it’s against Facebook’s terms, and the company appears to have a new strategy in going after those who are in violation (or at least getting a better handle on how much it’s actually going on).

    Facebook has been sending out survey questions to people asking whether or not their friends are who they say they are.

    “Please help us understand how people are using Facebook,” Facebook says in a dialogue box. “Your response is anonymous and won’t affect your friends’s account. Is this your friend’s real name?”

    A Twitter user tweeted out the following screenshot, which was picked up by Talking Points Memo (via TNW):

    Facebook snitching

    In case there’s any question about the legitimacy of the screenshot, TPM says Facebook has confirmed that it has been surveying users about their friends’ names for the past several months. The publication shares this from a Facebook spokesperson:

    “This system has been in a few different incarnations over the past couple months. It changes depending on what’s being asked.”

    “Facebook is a community where people connect and share using their real identities,” the company says in its name policy. “When everyone uses their real first and last names, people can know who they’re connecting with. This helps keep our community safe. We take the safety of our community very seriously. That’s why we remove fake accounts from the site as we find them.”

    Of course, just because someone is using a fake name does not necessarily mean that the account is fake. Some people simply go by names other than those on their birth certificates. Ask Prince Rogers Nelson or Marshall Bruce Mathers III (who has more likes than anybody on Facebook, granted this is via a Page, not a personal profile).

    It’s unclear exactly what Facebook is doing with the information it is collecting.

  • AnyBeat Puts a New Spin on Social Networking

    It’s hard to think about social media and not think of Facebook. The social giant is the dominant player in the space and, essentially, serves as the standard that other social networks are based on. For this reason, it’s only natural that people assume any new social network has hopes of being a “Facebook killer.”

    However, this is not the case with new social network AnyBeat. According to Dmitry Shapiro, the network’s CEO and founder, AnyBeat has no intention of killing Facebook.

    “AnyBeat is not meant to be a Facebook killer,” he said. “I don’t expect anyone is gonna be killing Facebook in the near future.”

    The former Myspace exec who is also known for founding Veoh went on to say that, for him, Facebook is the most important tool on the Web. In spite of this, he believes that some users want more than what Facebook has to offer and, as a result, created Anybeat.

    Does Facebook satisfy all your social networking needs? Let us know.

    AnyBeat is intended to be a “public gathering place” that connects people that don’t already know each other. As Shapiro explained, the service was initially known as Altly but was changed to AnyBeat to better describe the true meaning behind the platform. He told us that the inspiration for the name came from Henry David Thoreau in Walden when he said:

    “If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”

    The idea is that, with the overwhelming “common drum” beat on most social networking sites, users cannot hear their own drum beat even when they want to. He hopes that AnyBeat will become a place for users to discover their own voice.

    “The goal of AnyBeat is to augment Facebook,” said Shapiro.

    He told us that Google successfully created an alternative to Facebook with Google+. By “alternative,” he means that Google+ users have to use their identity to log on to the service, just like Facebook users do. He also said that Google+ users are primarily connected to the same network that they are connected to on Facebook.

    With AnyBeat, Shapiro wants to create a very different experience. He wants to reach the audience that is tired of their circle of friends constantly talking about the same topics. AnyBeat believes it can reach this audience and create this experience by allowing pseudonyms, introducing users to new people, and not trying to be the global identity of users.

    Shapiro thinks that by giving people the right to use pseudonyms, they will have more freedom to speak their mind even about controversial issues such as politics and religion.

    “When you’re forced to use your real name it really restricts you from communicating,” he said.

    By allowing for pseudonyms, he thinks people will be more open to reaching out of their regular network in order to connect with new people.

    AnyBeat also creates a different social networking experience since it has no plans of becoming a global identity for users. While some users enjoy the convenience of having one log-in for multiple services, others want to have private conversations that are not archived.

    “Today, we’re living in a world where Facebook and Google are really fighting a battle of ‘who’s gonna be our Internet driver’s license,’” said Shapiro.

    “AnyBeat does not want to be, nor will it ever be – mark my words – your identity provider to the Web,” he continued. “That is not our goal and will never be our goal.”

    At this point, the service is in private beta but is expected to launch publicly in the coming weeks.

    Is AnyBeat the type of social networking experience you’re looking for?