Facebook evil overlord creator Mark Zuckerberg has always been a really big fan of permanent, IRL identities. Anyone who's tried to use a fake/minimally-lettered name or ambiguous gender can tell you that the social network is not big on letting its users stay anonymous. Apparently, that's a Zuckerberg vision that's currently undergoing massive change. Soon, you'll be able to use Facebook without actually having a face. The company recently tried to buy anonymous-ish and impermanent-inclined app SnapChat for a cool $3 million — an offer which had SnapChat shaking its damn head and saying "hell no, you don't." Now that apps like Whisper and Rumr are also doing the private user thing, Facebook's all eager to get on the app train to anon town.
Enter Whisper's CEO Michael Heyward, who's been busy telling Business Insider about how Mark Zuckerberg's got Whisper on his radar. Bloomberg Businessweek meanwhile, is saying "One thing about some of the new apps that will come as a shock to anyone familiar with Facebook: Users will be able to log in anonymously. That's a big change for Zuckerberg, who once told David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, that 'having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.' Former Facebook employees say identity and anonymity have always been topics of heated debate in the company." During an interview with the newspaper, Zuckerberg also said "I don't know if the balance has swung too far, but I definitely think we're at the point where we don’t need to keep on only doing real identity things. If you're always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden."
Oyster mag