There are times we want to take credit for something we’ve written, or photographed, or otherwise made. Our desire to share things publicly and have them attributed to us can be valuable. Attribution, of course, is a way to inform an audience who might appreciate connecting the attributed to its creator.

Many of the photographs I have taken, which can be found on the web, have a “©ABOSCH” watermark on them.

I do this because I wish to inform the viewer, that they are indeed looking at an image that I made, not someone else. I find value in attribution, in this case, as it better informs the public about my work as an artist. Sharing to inform an existing audience (friends, family or strangers) or to help grow an audience (strangers), makes plenty of sense. Facebook and Twitter have proven to be useful tools to this end.

Conversely, there are times we actually don’t want to take credit for something we have created, or we want to create without the chance of attribution because we either want to communicate in an uncensored fashion, or have fear of retribution (social, institutional, or governmental.) For this, one needs to move to an anonymous platform. 4Chan, Reddit, Whisper and my own project, Kwikdesk are a few examples of platforms which provide varying degrees of anonymity to their users.

These two realms, the attributed and the anonymous, are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s my contention that the future of social-media will be a user-defined, balanced experience between both the attributed and the anonymous realms.

2013 was the year many of us asked, “Have I been over-sharing?” and “Who can I trust?” — 2014 is the year many have started to look for alternatives to the social status quo.

The value in sharing needs to be looked at closely by the individual. Perhaps, only a fraction of what we share publicly serves our best interests. There is a type of communication which can happen anonymously, that I would argue can be more honest and less ego-driven than in attributed social-media. Learning to share for the sake of sharing, but not for the need of recognition or acknowledgement can be empowering. It speaks to our roles as individuals in the sharing-economy of the human experience!

It’s in the back and forth, between attribution and anonymity that we will find a healthy balance in our sharing.