Philippine E-Journals

ANONYMITY IN SOCIAL MEDIA: THE CASE OF THE LETRANITE CONFESSIONS

Joseph Angelo V. Tancangco | Ricardo P. Martinez Jr. | Roberto DV Revilla

 

Abstract:

There was a seeming dearth of researches and theories on anonymity in the context of communication. In this study, however, we saw anonymity as a significant factor that had affected the communication process that ruled the users of  The Letranite Confessions‖ (TLC). TLC is a Facebook page, which catered to the students and personnel of Colegio de San Juan de Letran Calamba in an online setting. It provided its users the freedom to post anonymously their sentiments, concerns, complaints, and confessions. The assumptions of theories that attempt to connect anonymity with communication process, such as the Online Disinhibition Effect Deindividuation Theory, and Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE model), postulating that when someone is anonymous, the more s/he will be generally expressive and uninhibited with the message s/he would want to convey, were verified.