Even before Texts From Last Night was launched online, one Ohio University junior kept track of funny or embarrassing messages the old-fashioned way.
Before I ever found that site
my friends and I had sheets of paper taped up on the wall with our drunk texts said Annette Crowell, who studies education.
TFLN, which released its first book of text messages this week, is one of a growing number of Web sites, such as PostSecret and FMyLife, where people reveal secrets. Texts and area codes are posted on the site. Occasionally, the response to the text is also published. About 31 million visitors from 230 countries and territories have visited the site, wrote Benjamin Bator, founding partner of TFLN, in an e-mail.
(These sites) are actually like a reality show. You get to see into people's private lives in a way we haven't done before. You get to observe their lives and nobody is really hurt by it said Tamara Afifi, an associate professor of communications at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has published research about the sharing of secrets.
Mike Crofts, an OU senior studying music production, has localized the popularity of TFLN with his Facebook group, TFLN (Texts From Last Night) Ohio University.
I know a lot of people who actually legitimately love going to these sites
Crofts said. I think it's another form of entertainment. ... College students are going out drinking ... and having stupid nights
and then they can go on this group and see that other people having are these stupid nights
too.
Bator said TFLN is different from sites such as PostSecret because of context.
With TFLN
you get a text or (BlackBerry message)
you send it to Textsfromlastnight.com via your phone or computer
whatever's closer and that's it. No editing
just hit send
he wrote.
Bator also addressed accusations of fabricated texts.
People sometimes assume that TFLN is fake and that Lauren (Leto
