PostSecret
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PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
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[edit] Overview
Since Frank Warren created the site on January 1, 2005, PostSecret has collected and displayed upwards of 2,500 original pieces of art from people across the United States and some parts of the world (international readers have also been known to send in postcards). The idea of the project is simple: completely anonymous people decorate a postcard and portray a secret that they have never before revealed. There is no restriction on what the content of the secret must be, only that it must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. Entries range from admissions of sexual misconduct and criminal activity to confessions of secret desires, embarrassing habits, hopes and dreams. The site is consistently the blog with the most views, and is considered by some to be the number one blog.
The site, which started as an experimental Blogspot and is updated every Sunday with 20-40 new pieces, has a relatively constant style, giving all 'artists' that participate some guidelines on how their secrets should be represented. The only instructions given are as follows:
[edit] Instructions
You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.
Create your own 4-by-6-inch postcards out of any mailable material. But please only put one secret on a card. If you want to share two or more secrets, use multiple postcards. (Please do not e-mail your secret.)
Please put your complete secret and image on one side of the postcard.
Tips:
- Be brief - the fewer words used the better.
- Be legible - use big, clear and bold lettering.
- Be creative - let the postcard be your canvas.
[edit] Public attention
Recently the project has received some national news coverage, being featured weekly in Washington, D.C.'s City Paper as well as in the All-American Rejects 2005 music video Dirty Little Secret. Artwork from the site was blown up to poster size and used as the background for the shoot.
In the sixth annual Weblog Awards, the PostSecret website received five Bloggies in 2006: Best American Weblog, Best Topical Weblog, Best Community Weblog, Best New Weblog, and Weblog of the Year.
In several schools, such as Martingrove Collegiate Institute , students started up their own post-secret walls, putting up secrets on pieces of papers anonymously.
[edit] Book
Selected postcards, including some not on the website, were published in PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives (ISBN 0-06-089919-0). It was published by Harper Collins/Regan Books and released on December 1, 2005.
A second PostSecret book, entitled My Secret: A PostSecret Book (ISBN 0-06-119668-1), was released on October 24, 2006. It is also published by Regan Books.
A third PostSecret book, entitled The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book(ISBN 0-06-119875-7), was released on January 9, 2007.
[edit] Spin-offs
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- DroppedTheBomb.com is a site for people to anonymously post "bombs" - or stories of when they confessed something to someone, or someone confessed something to them. Alternatively, people can "drop a bomb" and reveal their secrets. A commenting system is available for getting and giving advice. Bombs are categorized with tags, so you can browse by tag.
- UnSpoken Secrets is a new spin-off off the "Post Secret" idea. UnSpoken Secrets encourages visitors to create an artistic image with the secret found inside it. Quickly spreading, UnSpoken Secrets shows every secret submitted, then sorted into different months of submission.
- VeryLiberating is one such spin-off that started in mid 2006 and instantly attracted a large audience with additional features such as an anonymous Photo Submission section.
- Whisperz is a variation that encourages users to share more than secrets: wishes and idle thoughts are also welcome. Started in 2006, the site utilizes a modern "web 2.0" look-and-feel and added interactivity.
- LivejournalSecret is based on the concept of PostSecret and has become a successful spin-off of the site. Unlike PostSecret, however, LivejournalSecret posts every secret submitted by users and posts new secrets daily, no matter the quality.
- There is also a myspace version of this. Visitors can login as an anonymous user and post their secret for more immediate results than LivejournalSecret, although they cannot be commented on by other users.
- As a twist on the PostSecret concept, notmysecrets.com encourages vistors to post the secrets of others. The site states, "if you have ever been told a secret, or know a secret about someone, and you’re not supposed to tell...tell us. Be concise. Be creative. Your conscience is clear." Secrets are updated daily.
- Additionally, Group hug is another similar website that publishes anonymous confessions through a simple form.
- A recent addition I Wish I Could Tell You focuses on the healing aspects of releasing your past and moving to the present moment.
- Open Letter is another variation on this theme, but with a twist. Visitors are encouraged to write "the letters we wanted to send or should have sent, but didn't" and post them anonymously.
- Briefgeheim is a Dutch spin-off by NRC Next (Dutch morning newspaper) and Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers
- Fandom secrets is a live journal that allows people to post their secrets that are based on their fandoms.
[edit] Historical analogues
The 1973 book Variable Piece 4: Secrets by the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler (one of many works in his Variable Piece series) was a compilation of nearly 1800 secrets written down by random people.
[edit] External links
