Anonymity and Self-Disclosure on Weblogs

2007-07-01articleJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication343 citationsbronze

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Privacy, Security, and Data Protection Media and Digital Communication Digital Communication and Language

Abstract

Bloggers are typically cautious about engaging in self-disclosure because of concerns that what they post may have negative consequences.This article examines the relationship between anonymity (both visual and discursive) and self-disclosure on weblogs through an online survey.The results suggest that increased visual anonymity is not associated with greater self-disclosure, and the findings about the role of discursive anonymity are mixed.Bloggers whose target audience does not include people they know offline report a higher degree of anonymity than those whose audience does.Future studies need to explore the reasons why bloggers visually and discursively identify themselves in particular ways.

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