Anonymous apps doomed

Anonymous messaging apps are destined to fail. That's according to the CEO of one of them, Secret.

Referring to reports of the impending death of the latest anonymous app, Yik Yak, David Byttow has recalled how his app suffered a similar fate when user interest suddenly dropped off.

It's not a question of resources, either. Yik Yak raised over $70m in funding. Usage is also huge: Byttow claims 15 million people used Secret at one point. He includes in the aforementioned blog post graphs of several other anonymous apps that have seen huge peaks and troughs of popularity and compares the apps to the games market: where there is a spike in interest and then gradual waning.

The bigger problem, according to Byttow, is that the very anonymity that these apps offer is what makes them easy to discard when the next thing comes along.

"Without some form of identity, it’s impossible to form and strengthen lasting relationships with others. Users invest in their online personas by forming new relationships (becoming Facebook friends), providing feedback to others (liking a friend’s Instagram photo) and by sharing our daily lives (posting a story photo in Snapchat). Identity allows for continuity, anonymity doesn’t, and continuity is necessary to strengthen relationships," he argues.

There are of course other reasons why people stop using apps. Developers have a tendency to focus all their energy on one novel feature and then fail to do anything beyond count the number of users they have and fantasize about being the next Facebook. And then of course some decide to embark on dubious and possibly illegal data mining in an effort to make money. ®