1 CHAPTER : IDENTITY EXPLORATION IN ANONYMOUS ONLINE SPACES Mary Anne Lauri orcid.org/0000-0001-5219-8010 Lorleen Farrugia orcid.org/0000-0001-7535-6413 Summary Social Networking Sites offer many challenges and opportunities. Platforms such as Ask.fm, Sarahah, Roastme and Whisper allow users to communicate without revealing personal information or disclosing their identity. Data from a survey of 993 young people aged between 12 to 16 years was analysed using Latent Class Analysis. Exploratory findings from qualitative research were also included in the analyses to investigate how many young people use such sites, and the characteristics that users may have in common. The research also explores reasons behind communicating anonymously or using pseudonyms. Introduction Adolescence is characterised by the individuals’ ongoing self-exploration of their physical, cognitive, and social characteristics. While these developmental processes remain consistent across generations, online technologies have significantly impacted the context, and how they take place. Social networking sites (SNS) have changed people ’s lives in dramatic ways, perhaps more so for adolescents. Social platforms such as Ask.Fm, Sarahah, Secret, Roastme, Whisper, Tumblr, Anomo, After School, Psst! Anonymous and others, offer the possibility of anonymous social interaction. This facilitates self-expression and communication without the need to reveal one ’s identity. Stories about young people using such platforms have been in the international press a number of times, often after the incidence of a tragedy like the suicide of Hannah Smith in 2013. The rhetoric surrounding these platforms is negative (Binns, 2013; Vaughan, 2013). Media panics about this technology are similar in many ways to those which occurred about other forms of communication such as television (Drotner, 1999). Many platforms, including the ones which allow anonymous communication, are used by young people who may not be fully aware of the repercussions these could have on their developmental process, the development of their identity