I saw this TED Talk video, Half a Million Secrets, in which the creator of Post Secret explains the website, tells a few stories about particular secrets, and explains why he initially started the project. He says that he believes the reason he started the project was because he subconsciously wanted to let go of his secrets through crowdsourcing. This got me thinking about why would people want to tell their story in an anonymous fashion. There are so many websites where people can write anything they want anonymously and it can be seen my many people. However, websites like Post Secret and Six Word Memoir (SWM) are particularly interesting because they are made entirely for the purpose of telling a story about yourself, and many people hearing it, without anyone knowing it was you. I’m assuming that people like to do this because it helps them get something off their chest without facing any severe, face-to-face repercussions.

When we were initially studying these two websites I thought about Six Word Memoir as something that was more artistic or clever. I thought that Post Secret was more popular due to the anonymous and voyeuristic aspect. I viewed these two websites as having very different purposes. The first was more about posting and being creative. It appeared to me that most of the site visitors were part of the Six Word Memoir community and therefore also made posts themselves. On the other hand, I saw Post Secret as having more viewers who did not send post cards but regularly visited for the interesting, voyeuristic aspects.

However, now I have realized (something that should have been blatantly obvious to me in the first place) that both websites are actually about telling an intricate and fascinating story with only a few words. It only occurred to me after studying these websites that people are probably actually interested in Post Secret not only for the scandalous or surprising aspects of it. I think that people really like visiting the website because you get to read many stories but very quickly. You can read 10 words on one post card and it reveals a huge story that makes you curious and makes you use your imagination. I think both these websites are mostly appealing because you get to use your imagination and read a long story in such a short time due to it being told in such few words.