Tellonym

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Tellonym
Website logo
What your friends think
languages multilingual
operator Callosum Software GmbH
On-line April 2016 (currently over 13 million users (active))
https://tellonym.me/

Tellonym (new word, from English to tell (to say) and German anonymously ) is a free, advertising-financed, cross-platform messaging app for answering questions. Tellonym makes it easy to receive feedback and supports the anonymity of those giving feedback as well as protecting the recipients from unwanted publications. This is offset by the possibility of giving or receiving feedback without being asked. Over 13 million German-speaking users are currently registered on the portal (as of March 2019), which corresponds to around a third of the total of 40 million users worldwide. The rest are mostly from the United States , Great Britain, and Brazil . Tellonym.me was founded by the developer Callosum Software around Maximilian Rellin, Max Fehmerling, Johannes Sorg and Birger Naß. Christopher Obereder also appeared as Chief Marketing Officer .

history

Similar projects were started with ask.fm in 2010, while the competitor Sarahah from Saudi Arabia also started in 2016. The Tellonym project started in April 2016. In May 2017, 700,000 users were registered. As of June 2018, there were 2 million users registered. The Google App Store currently has 13 million registrations. According to the surveys of the Youth Internet Monitor 2018 in Austria , 12 percent of 11 to 17 year olds use the app.

On Alexa, the app reached 2572 in France , 4652 in Germany and 23,125 in Brazil .

technology

The messages at Tellonym are called tells . A user's profile consists of nothing other than their username. With the help of the profile, feedback is collected on oneself, on work, on any questions. Tellonym can be used as a kind of survey tool. In addition to friends, anyone can access their personal profile via a public link and leave comments there. This makes it easier to leave hurtful or annoying comments, which, unlike other platforms, do not appear immediately, but only become publicly visible after a response from the recipient. In order to rate other users, it is not necessary to have your own profile with a name or email address. The provider reserves the right to retain the messages and IP addresses of the end devices for any necessary transmission to criminal authorities. The app checks each message sent individually and determines a potential risk based on the words it contains, the sender's usage history, the recipient's security settings and previous decisions made by the moderation team. Through this check, messages are either delivered directly, checked by moderators before delivery or deleted directly. In addition, the app enables a user-based word filter to be set up with a maximum of ten words, which prevents “tells” containing the listed words from reaching the user. This word filter can become ineffective in practice, as it can be bypassed by simply exchanging individual letters. However, the sender neither knows the user-based words nor is they informed about the possible blocking of their message. With the help of a timer function, the sending time of the message can be planned.

Linking with other media

Tellonym is most often connected via Instagram , although the databases cannot be connected directly. Facebook and Twitter's timeline are also used for dissemination . The app can be downloaded free of charge from the Google Play Store for Android devices and from the App Store for iOS devices. According to USK estimates, the app is suitable for ages 12 and up in the Google Play Store and contains advertising. The App Store gives an age rating of 17 years and over. The app needs access to the identity, contacts, media like photos and files, camera, device ID and call information.

Controversy

The ability to formulate “tells” anonymously can be misused to insult or harass users. This can lead to cyberbullying . Since 70 percent of Tellonym users are adolescent girls, they are particularly often unsettled by anonymous insults.

In their 2018 annual report, Jugendschutz.net documented on Tellonym "many [...] drastic insults or even requests to commit suicide ". The provider has meanwhile implemented digital mechanisms for the prevention of suicide and rampage , which include contacting the users themselves, parents and professional aid organizations.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Info.tellonym.me: How we safeguard our users. Accessed July 30, 2020 .
  2. a b Antje Schmelcher: It has never been easier to be mean to girls , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from April 10, 2019, viewed on December 3, 2019.
  3. Gruenderszene.de: You reach millions of users - now Viral founders have noticed you. Accessed July 30, 2020 .
  4. Georg Räth: 5 young people have built a viral app with millions of users in a short time , on gruenderszene.de on September 19, 2017, viewed on December 3, 2019.
  5. Georg Räth: Berlin start-up lands viral hit with feedback app , in: Die Welt from October 2, 2017.
  6. Sebastian Meinec: How Tellonym Fights With Bullying , in: Spiegel-Online from May 6, 2017.
  7. Entry on klicksafe.de
  8. Entry in the Google App Store
  9. Youth Internet Monitor 2018
  10. Analysis of Tellonym on Alexa , accessed on July 20, 2020.
  11. Tellonym: collect anonymous feedback , in: Focus Online on 12 December 2016th
  12. Felix Stoll: Tellonym: What is it? Simply explained . in: Chip.de on March 23, 2020, accessed on May 27, 2020.
  13. Martin Maciej: Connect Tellonym with Instagram: How it works , in: Giga.de of March 21, 2018.
  14. ^ Christian Geisler: App of the week: Send anonymous messages with Tellonym , in: Neue Westfälische Zeitung of November 18, 2016.
  15. Nicole Stroschein: Tellonym - What you should know about the service! In: The Parents Handbook of September 9, 2018.
  16. Fatina Keilani: Help, my daughter is in Tellonym , in: Der Tagesspiegel of March 27, 2019, accessed on December 3, 2019.
  17. Jugendschutz.net: Jugendschutz im Internet - Report 2018. Retrieved on August 12, 2020 .
  18. Stefan Krempl: Sexual abuse and cyber-bullying: youth protectionists reprimand Tumblr and TikTok , on heise.de from August 31, 2019, accessed on December 3, 2019.
  19. Michael Kroker: Cyberbullying at Tellonym: “Make it suicide!” , In: Wirtschaftswoche from June 19, 2019, viewed on December 3, 2019.