Formspring

Our class discussion today regarding internet trolling reminded me of something I have come across on Facebook known as “formspring” (http://www.formspring.com/).  Basically, formspring is something that allows people to ask their friends anonymous questions.  The catch phrase for some of those who have a formspring is “Ask Me Anything.”  I checked out some of the questions that people have asked their friends and, to be honest, a lot of them are questions that I don’t think people would ask in “real life.”  The fact that formspring allows the person who asked the question to remain anonymous gives he/she the sense of freedom to literally ask a friend anything.  I found some of the questions to be personal, for example, a person might ask his/her friend a sexual question.  I think this is similar to internet trolling because the anonymous aspect of both formspring and trolling allows people to hide behind their computer screens and never actually face the people they interact with via internet.