Silicon Valley employees are turning to the anonymous workplace app Blind to discuss everything from the recent layoffs to salaries.
The app has been popular among workers at tech giants like Uber, Meta, and Twitter because users can anonymously post and connect with others in the industry.
Founded in 2013, Blind has been referred to as the "anti-LinkedIn."
The app offers private company channels for users to discuss workplace issues or gossip with co-workers. It also functions as a messaging service where users can communicate privately or join group chats with employees at affiliated companies and offers a public channel.
Blind says it has 7 million registered users from over 300,000 companies. Here's how it works.
How to make a Blind profile
Users must register with an email address. Both personal and work emails are accepted but they will give users different levels of access and verification.
If workers sign up and verify a work email address, they will have full access and can join private channels dedicated to their company. Blind requires at least 30 employees from one company to sign up for the app before creating a channel for it.
If users sign up with a personal email, they will only get access to Blind's public "Topics" channel.
Rick Chen, a senior director and head of public relations at Blind, told Insider that people are normally verified using their work email.
"People can sign up for Blind using a free or personal email or university email address, but they will not be able to post comments or reviews, start discussion threads or send direct messages. We limit participation in the community because they are unverified users," Chen said.
"People can't self-identify their employer," he added, explaining why using a work email is encouraged.
What are employees talking about?
Workers can discuss anything from salary to workplace culture. The app offers features such as a salary comparison tool and anonymous company reviews.
While compensation has traditionally been a big topic on the platform, the disruptions at major tech companies including Meta and Twitter have seen some employees take to the platform to vent about layoffs.
After Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees and Twitter axed 50% of its workforce, many employees took to the platform to express their opinions.
"The Metaverse will be our slow death," one user, who described themself as a senior software developer at Meta, posted on Wednesday. They added: "Mark Zuckerberg will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse."
Is Blind really anonymous?
Blind says that users' email addresses are encrypted and stored separately from account information. Real names are never connected Blind accounts and users won't be asked to provide this information.
Since verification is done with work emails, it's possible an employer can see when a worker requests a verification code.
However, this is only the case if an employer monitors company email accounts.
Blind also discourages members from sharing personal information that could identify them in their posts or messages.
Do people lose their Blind accounts if they are laid off?
Chen said: "Nearly all of the reviews posted have been written by current employees of the respective companies at the time of writing, as people generally cannot access Blind after they are laid off or resign."
However, he confirmed that "loss of access after an employment change is not immediate."
He told Insider that users have to re-verify their work emails over time to ensure they still work at the company.
"After registration, we send occasional prompts to re-verify their account. We want to ensure users still work at the company listed. Reverification does not happen at a fixed or regularly scheduled time or cycle," he said.
Chen added that if a user can't re-verify, "they lose access to their Blind account" and have to sign up with their new email address at another employer.
