Going anonymous: Uses and perceptions of anonymous social media in an IT organization

Heewon Kim; Craig R. Scott

doi:10.1145/3217804.3217940

Going anonymous: Uses and perceptions of anonymous social media in an IT organization

Heewon Kim, Craig R. Scott

Human Communication, Hugh Downs School of

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Anonymous social media provide opportunities and challenges for the organizations where they are used, but relatively little is known about how these tools are used and perceived by various types of organizational members. This paper reports preliminary findings from a survey of Microsoft employees using the anonymous smartphone application called Blind. Results suggest that this technology is used frequently for a variety of purposes related to seeking information, seeking support, and (less so) expressing opinions. The tool is seen as relatively useful and anonymous, but only moderately safe and trustworthy. Significant differences in perceived anonymity, perceived trust/safety, and use of the tool for seeking support are found based on frequency of use, as well as tenure, age, and hierarchical level of users. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications of findings and directions for further work in this emerging area.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, SMSociety 2018
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	335-339
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Print)	9781450363341
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3217804.3217940
State	Published - Jul 18 2018
Event	9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, SMSociety 2018 - Copenhagen, Denmark Duration: Jul 18 2018 → Jul 20 2018

Other

Other	9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, SMSociety 2018
Country/Territory	Denmark
City	Copenhagen
Period	7/18/18 → 7/20/18

Keywords

Anonymous communication
Anonymous social media
Enterprise social media
IT organization
Smartphone application

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Networks and Communications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Software

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10.1145/3217804.3217940

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Kim, H & Scott, CR 2018, Going anonymous: Uses and perceptions of anonymous social media in an IT organization. in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, SMSociety 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 335-339, 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society, SMSociety 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, 7/18/18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3217804.3217940

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title = "Going anonymous: Uses and perceptions of anonymous social media in an IT organization",

abstract = "Anonymous social media provide opportunities and challenges for the organizations where they are used, but relatively little is known about how these tools are used and perceived by various types of organizational members. This paper reports preliminary findings from a survey of Microsoft employees using the anonymous smartphone application called Blind. Results suggest that this technology is used frequently for a variety of purposes related to seeking information, seeking support, and (less so) expressing opinions. The tool is seen as relatively useful and anonymous, but only moderately safe and trustworthy. Significant differences in perceived anonymity, perceived trust/safety, and use of the tool for seeking support are found based on frequency of use, as well as tenure, age, and hierarchical level of users. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications of findings and directions for further work in this emerging area.",

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N2 - Anonymous social media provide opportunities and challenges for the organizations where they are used, but relatively little is known about how these tools are used and perceived by various types of organizational members. This paper reports preliminary findings from a survey of Microsoft employees using the anonymous smartphone application called Blind. Results suggest that this technology is used frequently for a variety of purposes related to seeking information, seeking support, and (less so) expressing opinions. The tool is seen as relatively useful and anonymous, but only moderately safe and trustworthy. Significant differences in perceived anonymity, perceived trust/safety, and use of the tool for seeking support are found based on frequency of use, as well as tenure, age, and hierarchical level of users. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications of findings and directions for further work in this emerging area.

AB - Anonymous social media provide opportunities and challenges for the organizations where they are used, but relatively little is known about how these tools are used and perceived by various types of organizational members. This paper reports preliminary findings from a survey of Microsoft employees using the anonymous smartphone application called Blind. Results suggest that this technology is used frequently for a variety of purposes related to seeking information, seeking support, and (less so) expressing opinions. The tool is seen as relatively useful and anonymous, but only moderately safe and trustworthy. Significant differences in perceived anonymity, perceived trust/safety, and use of the tool for seeking support are found based on frequency of use, as well as tenure, age, and hierarchical level of users. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications of findings and directions for further work in this emerging area.

KW - Anonymous communication

KW - Anonymous social media

KW - Enterprise social media

KW - IT organization

KW - Smartphone application

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Going anonymous: Uses and perceptions of anonymous social media in an IT organization

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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