10. Whisper – An Effective Use of Anonymous Persuasion?

Abstract

People around the world need a safe place to express themselves without fear of judgment. An anonymous secret sharing site can fulfill this requirement. Whisper is one such site. The research for this paper looks at the effectiveness of the anonymous rhetoric of the social networking site and corresponding app, Whisper, in creating a response in the audience. These responses come from the safety offered by the anonymity of Whisper. Two whispers from the confessions category of Whisper were examined for the purpose of this paper. Only two whispers were examined for this paper due to length constraints. These whispers were closely analyzed for the effectiveness of the rhetoric of Whisper. The images and words of each Whisper were analyzed for their relation to the effectiveness of the anonymity of the rhetoric of Whisper. The results of this paper show that the rhetoric of Whisper is effective in creating a response from the audience. Further, this paper helps to show how important it is for people in general to have a safe place in which they can express themselves without the fear of judgment from the people who know them.