When I
first checked out WhisperApp, After 5 days I wrote a blog post,
explaining what had happened to me in those 5 days. I was so sucked
in that I could not get off the app. I felt extremely addicted to it.
To me it was the App, and still is the App, with the most amazing
look at us human beings.
As all
startups go, the idea is set by the founder. This is what I want to
develop, and so they set out and built the app, then released it. Then
the people, also called users, start using it, and they help shape
the founders idea.
Whispers
idea is to let anyone tell the secret they have without anyone else
knowing it's them. You do not know who the person is who posted the
secret. The users do share secrets, but they share way more then
that. The users figured out how they want to shape this App, and it's
truly amazing to me what they are doing.
They
share, not only secrets, but they share their desire for drugs, sex, friendship and many more things that are not necessarily a secret, it's just a
desire they have. There is a ton of sex seekers on it. Yet, I have no
judgment on them, but many other Whisper users do. So lets talk about
Judgment, Reply's, PM's and Hearts.
Judgment:
Once you have posted your Secret, people can reply to it. So lets say
you post “I wish I could talk to my husband about my boyfriend”
Guess what happened when a woman posted that. She got hammered with
Reply's that mostly said she was a Whore or a Slut. WOW. I really
felt sad for her, and mad because if a man had posted “I wish I
could talk to my wife about my girlfriend” I am willing to bet he
would not receive the same persecuting judgment she did. This
judgment on her was not just men, there were plenty of women that
called her those nasty names too. Personally I think the words Whore
and Slut should be treated the same way the N word is treated. Don't
say it ever, it's evil, cruel, and annihilating to women. I guess
that's my judgment on judgment. Well wait, I have more. I think
users have decided that, well they are going to give you their
opinion on what you post. So that would mean it's a judgment, helping
hand, or expression of, either for or against your post. Yet the
critical judgment is more widely used. This makes me see into the
human beings that we all are. This makes me sad in many ways.
WhisperApp's platform is, share your secret if you want too. Nothing
more. Though look at us human beings, we decided we should become the
judge of the post. But how do we post our opinion without condemning
and being judgmental? We could ask ourselves the question: Have I
walked in their shoes? How can I know all the things in their life
that lead them to write a few sentences, that provoke me to respond
with criticism? That lead me to respond with cruel words?
It's not
an enemy we face on WhisperApp, it's our own selves. It's humanity,
it's people with problems and confusion, loneliness and joy, sexual
desires, drug users, laughter seekers, everyday people! It's the
person who severs you coffee at Starbucks, the man who hooks up your
internet service, the nurse who tends to you at the ER, the kid still
in high school, the pizza delivery dude. It's us the human race.
Reply's:
A reply is a Whisper post that
expresses your feelings and opinion on what the original Whisper
person posted. This is also an interesting area, because you can also
reply to a reply. I often read the reply’s because I'm interested
to learn what people think about what the original Whisper post was.
This is where I learn if the majority agrees with the post or
disagrees. Here is what I see. It's one of three things. It's either
split fairly evenly with critical condemning of the post or
graciously kindness to the post. Or it's all totally for the post or
totally against the post.
PM's:
PM means, private message. It's
like a direct message in Twitter, yet not limited to 140 characters.
This area is like a messenger
or texting service. You can
talk to the person who posted the original
post, or you may end up talking to people who replied to the original
post. Sometimes you'll talk
to a ton of people who replied to, your post. Still it's all
anonymous unless you choose to share more info about yourself. I like
this area a lot, because this is where I jump into souls. Still
anonymous you speak freely here, and this is where real magic happens
for me. This is where I do my paying it forward work. I've helped
suicidal people, depressed people, confused people, lonely people,
people with PTSD, people just wanting to talk, and those sex seeking
people. I talk to all of them. Each and everyone of them is just like
you and I.
Humans. Real beautiful people!
Hearts:
This is the option that if you liked the post you double click it and
a heart blows up and falls away on the post. It's like a like in
Facebook. It gets counted. Often times there are way many more hearts
then Replys. That means people really like the post, and only so many
of them are willing to reply. Kinda like comments and likes on
Youtube. I've often seen 80K likes on a Youtube, but only 120
comments. It's just one of those counters that shows how humans
beings are. People are more willing to click the heart then make a
reply. Nothing wrong with it, just an observation. Yet I always
wonder, what all those Heart people were thinking when they hearted a
Whisper.
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