--- title: Here’s Why People Gossip So Much description: Did you know that around 80% of office gossip is true? canonical: https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-11T04:01:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:19.978Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Here’s Why People Gossip So Much og:description: Did you know that around 80% of office gossip is true? og:url: https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt165eb2aadde5c96b/698782f2a988ca4ed06acdcf/sb10061954g-001-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=477&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 477 og:image:height: 268 og:image:alt: businessmen-gossip-whispering og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s Why People Gossip So Much twitter:description: Did you know that around 80% of office gossip is true? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt165eb2aadde5c96b/698782f2a988ca4ed06acdcf/sb10061954g-001-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=477&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here’s Why People Gossip So Much > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The Gossip Master of CollegeACB.com [Watch (HLS stream): The Gossip Master of CollegeACB.com](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oIdDnAFY.m3u8) (3:31)  _Published 2009-11-26. 19 year-old Peter Frank runs the controversial CollegeACB.com, which spreads the latest and juiciest gossip on 500 college campuses_ by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 11, 2015 4:01 AM UTC  Businessman whispering another businessman, close-up Businessman whispering another businessman, close-up Getty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 11, 2015 4:01 AM UTC Gossip [helps police bad behavior](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-gossip-make-us-less-selfish) in a social network and [relieves stress](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-gossip-be-a-good-thing). About 15% of office emails [are gossip](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120606111759.htm): --- > “” --- Negative gossip is nearly 3 times as prevalent: --- > “” --- Around 80% of office gossip [is true](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-much-of-office-gossip-is-true): --- > “” --- The way employees gossip about a company can predict its success or failure. Via [The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608194809/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1608194809): --- > “” --- Gossip that praises others [can raise the gossiper’s self esteem](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-gossiping-good-for-you). Sharing negative feelings about a third party [can increase closeness between two people](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-complaining-about-others-a-good-way-to-mak) but be careful: people unconsciously associate you with the things you gossip about. Via [59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307474860/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0307474860): --- > “” --- **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/06/why-do-we-gossip/)**_._** **Join over 161,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** Related posts: [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) [The 8 Things The Happiest People Do Every Day](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/happiest-people/) [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) _Read next:_ [_How to Deal With an Office Romance_](http://time.com/3709427/office-romance/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript >> When American colleges and universities defend the idea of free speech, this may not be what they had in mind. >> ACB, what I know, is the Anonymous Confession Board. >> It ranges from like the practical and helpful like I missed this lecture, can someone who is there tell me what was going on to sex fantasies or whatever? >> Gossip. Either choosing friends. >> Not a hate. Not a hate- ism. >> The Anonymous Confession Board or ACB, as it's called, is a hugely popular website that runs on more than 500 campuses. The more active sites can get half a million page views and thousands of new posts daily. What few people know is the person behind the site. >> This is the website. You call it ACB. When one lands on it, they are asked to choose a school. 19- year- old Peter Frank is a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He oversees the entire operation from his dorm room. >> I'd say that I've been entrepreneurial my whole life. I started buying and selling stuff out of my parents' family room at 11. I definitely think we can make a lot of money, but that really hasn't been a goal up to this point. >> Frank took over the site from its original founders, two students at Johns Hopkins, earlier this year. >> We never called [ unk ] gossip and that's ever been in remission. We're really trying to give our students space where they can dictate discussion. >> And when you say " we ", who are you talking about? >> I'm using it-- by we, I'm mostly winning I or College ACB as a whole. >> Without any kind filtersism and people being able to say things without being responsible for their words, I think it creates a really bad environment for anyone who is using that and certainly I'd see a lot of people that get hurt. >> Frank says he'll usually delete messages if he gets a request. >> You can simply go to the post deletion request page where you can request something be deleted. >> But he can't always get to it immediately. >> I understand that if I'm going on vacation that there's probably not gonna be anyone to delete the post and I realize if I have really a tough work night, people are to some extent suffering as a result. >> ACB has stirred controversy on campuses nationwide. Some students have called for boycotts and legal action saying their reputations have been damaged. >> As far as lawsuits, I've been threatened more times than you can imagine. All these sophomores at small schools claim to have lawyers [ unk ]. >> Frank has been shielded by the Federal Communications Decency Act, which says internet service providers cannot be held liable for their user- generated content. >> I think that someone should talk to him and tell him that there's a negative side to it. >> I don't like to see people called names. That's not why I made the site. But as I mentioned, I'm not gonna go in and try and influence how the site is used. In a perfect world, students would use this space for really constructive purposes, but I'll do my best to clean up the mess they make and hopefully give them a space where some good can happen. >> I'm Natasha del Toro in Connecticut reporting for TIME. com. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/"},"headline":"Here’s Why People Gossip So Much","datePublished":"2015-03-11T04:01:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:19.978Z","description":"Did you know that around 80% of office gossip is true?","url":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/","keywords":["Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt165eb2aadde5c96b/698782f2a988ca4ed06acdcf/sb10061954g-001-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt165eb2aadde5c96b/698782f2a988ca4ed06acdcf/sb10061954g-001-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"businessmen-gossip-whispering","caption":"businessmen-gossip-whispering","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/","name":"Here’s Why People Gossip So Much"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Gossip Master of CollegeACB.com","description":"19 year-old Peter Frank runs the controversial CollegeACB.com, which spreads the latest and juiciest gossip on 500 college campuses","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/oIdDnAFY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-11-26T20:27:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oIdDnAFY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/","duration":"PT3M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3738964/why-people-gossip/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```