Where to share your anonymous link

Your link only gets messages if people see it. The good news: you can post it almost anywhere. Here's where it works best and how to put it there.

Start from the share sheet in your inbox. It has buttons for WhatsApp, Telegram, X, Facebook, Messages and email, your phone's own share menu where it has one, and a copy button for everything else.

Instagram story

Stories are where anonymous links do best, because your friends are already tapping through them.

1. Copy your link.
2. Start a new story. A photo of you, a plain background or a screenshot of a message you've answered all work.
3. Add the Link sticker from the sticker menu and paste your link.
4. Add a line telling people what to send: "Ask me anything", "Rate my week", "Confess something".
5. Post it, and come back to answer.

Instagram lets you change the sticker's text, so it can say something friendlier than the address.

Instagram bio

Your bio is the place for a link that stays up. Go to Edit profile, then Links, and add your link. People who visit your profile can find it any time, not only when you've just posted a story.

WhatsApp status and groups

WhatsApp is where a lot of conversations already happen.

• Status: paste your link into a text status, or as the caption on a photo. Links in a status can be tapped.
• Group chats: post it with a question. "Anonymous question time: what should we do for the end-of-term trip?" gets the group going.
• Broadcasts: if you use a broadcast list, it's a quick way to reach a lot of people at once.

The WhatsApp button in the share sheet opens WhatsApp with your link already filled in.

Snapchat

When you take a snap, use the link tool (the paperclip) in the side menu to attach your link, then post it to your story. Add text on the snap itself saying what you want people to send. If your Snapchat profile has a website field, your link can live there too.

TikTok

TikTok only lets some accounts add a website to their bio. If yours can, go to Edit profile and add your link there. If it can't, tell viewers where to find it, for example "link's in my Instagram bio", rather than typing it into a caption, where it won't be tappable.

X

Post your link with a prompt, or add it to your profile's website field. The X button in the share sheet starts a post with your link in it.

Telegram, Facebook, Messages and email

These are all in the share sheet. Telegram groups and channels work much like WhatsApp groups. Facebook suits a wider circle of friends and family. Messages and email are good for sending your link to one or two people directly.

In real life

Your link is just a web address, so it works anywhere people can type or scan it: on a slide at the end of a talk, on a poster for a society event, or on the screen during a party game. For a group, see anonymous feedback for a class, club or team.

What to write with it

The words around your link matter as much as the link. Compare:

• "dropasecret.com/sam"
• "Ask me anything about my year abroad. Best questions answered on my story tonight. dropasecret.com/sam"

The second one tells people what to send and what you'll do with it. More ideas in how to get messages worth answering.

When to post

• Evenings are best: people have time to think of something good.
• After something happens (a trip, a birthday, results, a big game) people have something to ask.
• Not every day. If people stop noticing your link, run a Drop instead. A question with a timer gets attention a plain link doesn't.