Can you handle the Truth? – It was supposed to be a Secret!

One of the latest anonymous communication apps to hit the market, at the beginning of the month, is called Truth. And Beat The Cyberbully has some concerns about the immediate potential for online mis use this particular release has. The marketing behind it is sound, in that it differentiates itself from all the others by only sending part of the message if you don’t have the Truth app. If you don’t have the app, you get a part of the message and then the ability to download the app to get the rest of it. Of course the notification and message arrive anonymously but from someone that has you in their address book. Great way to get the app downloaded. If you already have the app then you get the whole message first time.

Interestingly enough, the Truth app, which was released on April 1st, but is definitely no fool, was originally slated to be called Secret (another anonymous communication app that pipped Truth to the post) The company that brought Truth to market had already actually bought the domain www.secretapp.com and were in beta testing phase when Secret went ahead and released their app – so now we have Truth.

The marketing technique that basically ensures anyone that gets a partial message downloads the app, has seen it shoot into 90th position in the Canadian App store. And for the time being this app won’t be available on our shores. But it won’t be long and we need to be ready for it. The developers have said that their core users are college students and the most common message threads are for flirting and feedback in the workplace. This would suggest that it is targeting those over the age of 18. They also have a screen where you have to affirm that you are over 18 years of age. But we have seen it’s all to easy to bypass these kind of ‘barriers’ – the reality is, that they want as many people as possible to download the app.

Touted as a more personal communication tool, apparently puts it above the likes of Whisper and the other Secret. Whilst that does make it a more personal approach, rather than just creating a message and sending it into the social ether on the other apps, you can remain anonymous on Truth, so in theory could make for a much more personal case if mis use.

In the meantime – keep an eye out for the Owl icon on smartphones within your network and your children’s – The Truth