Mediaboss Marketing

Ask the average person what they dislike most about social network platforms like Facebook or Instagram and the answers are pretty consistent: massive amounts of advertising, how algorithms determine what you see in your feed, and all of the personal data these companies gather from their users. But even though people say they hate these things, they still put up with them. After all, its the way of the world now, the easiest way to stay connected, and those ads in that algorithm are the price you pay for a free experience.

Enter MeWe, a new, free social network that may change the statusquo. MeWes owners are banking on the idea that peoples desire to stayconnected while maintaining absolute control over their private informationwill help the company flourish and potentially knock these other platformsoff their respective pedestals.

But is MeWe really safe, private, and free to use?

MeWe is the brainchild of Mark Weinstein, who tells Parentology, I am one of the original founders of social media. Indeed, Weinstein launched the social-gathering websites SuperGroups (which included SuperFamily, SuperFriends, and SuperFamilia) in the late 1990s, eventually selling them off in 2001. Soon after, he saw platforms like MySpace and Facebook using subscribers personal behavior and information to help advertisers target consumers. Then in 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stated that privacy as a social norm was a thing of the past. That got Weinsteins attention.

My God, that is such a distortion of what social media wasmeant to be, Weinstein says. It wasnt meant to be something wherepeople are objectified as data to track, sell, target, and manipulate. No.Social networking was for people to stay authentically connected and to findcommon interests and like-minded people.

Fast forward to 2016 and MeWes public launch at South by Southwest, and its slow growth to today. The sites home page, pictured above, puts their focus on privacy right up front. The site also features this 10-point Privacy Bill of Rights.

Weinstein notes MeWe doesnt use facial recognition technology an important point given last years Flickr/MegaFace database leak and that your personal information will not be sold.

The sites Terms & Conditions state you can delete specific content data or your entire account, but its not instantaneous. Its verbiage, we delete your Content Data and remove your account from our production servers as soon as is technically possible based on our infrastructure designincluding a 30-day delay to insure the deletion request was made by you, etc. Theres also a chance the data could remain on their backup servers for up to seven months. Otherwise, the notion you can completely wipe your data off MeWe does look legit.

And if we ever change our privacy policy, we must tell you, so that you can decide whether or not to accept the changes, Weinstein says. And, if you decide to not accept the changes, We must give you a link to delete your account and take your content.

Theres also a poison pill, which states that if someonebuys MeWe they cant simply change the privacy policy without letting you know.

Yes. You sign up for free and have access to all 21 features, including news feeds, chats, 8GB of cloud storage (about 15,000 photos), voice messaging and more.

The company makes money by offering a $4.99 monthly premium option, which gives you things like unlimited emoji and sticker packs, unlimited voice and video calling, unlimited custom themes, 100GB of cloud storage and more. Users can also buy elements ala-cart, like additional stickers for a $1.99 flat fee, or unlimited voice and video calling for $1.99 per month. Theres also MeWePRO, a collaboration and communication software for businesses helping with the companys bottom line.

MeWes Terms of Service state that users have to be 16 or older. There is a checkbox on the signup page, but like with every other social network or dating app, the company does not verify the users age. If an underage kid knows what month and year makes him old enough to use the service, hes in.

To this, Weinstein says, We are not in the business of collecting verified data on people and then having that database be at risk for somebody hacking it. We dont want to manage that at all. That is part of our privacy stance.

There are no specific parental controls. If parents want to monitor or restrict how people interact with their childs profile, they have to make sure the regular privacy controls are set up. As for worries that underage kids are using MeWe, or that the older kids may be approached by creepy individuals, Weinstein says parents are supposed to monitor where the kids are anyhow, then pivots the conversation to Facebook.

If a kid is on MeWe, they can opt-out of our member directory, Weinstein says. You cant do that with Facebook. If youve got a 13-year-old and they create an account on Facebook, they are automatically and forever in Facebooks member directory.

There have been concerns raised about the general community on MeWe. Just last year, Rolling Stone wrote about the increasing number of alt-right followers and conspiracy theorists who are moving over to MeWe after experiencing Facebook censoring them. The article notes that MeWe is not known as a hotbed of extremist discourse in the same way that 8Chan or Discord are, but the editors stated that they were able to easily find these groups.

The claims made in the Rolling Stone article about MeWe members are false and do not reflect the make-up of MeWes millions of members, a MeWe spokesperson stated in an email to Parentology. MeWe is home to upstanding, diverse members, and has open group communities of allkinds, including those for sports, technology, entertainment, video games, fitness, health, travel, foodies, politics left and right, and much more. Weinstein also wrote an article for Medium that challenged the storys assertions; weve placed a link to it in the sources section below.

The fact that different groups exist on MeWe just like they do on everything from TikTok to Snapchat doesnt mean you or your children will be approached or groomed by any organization. Users build their personal network by searching for peoples names or uploading their address book, which MeWe uses to find friends and relatives who are already on the platform. (This, too, can be deleted afterward.) And without these groups having the ability to market their organizations into your newsfeed, the only way someone will find them is to go looking.

MeWe also offers a block and report feature if anythingtoo offensive comes across your screen.That goes right to our trust and safety team, Weinstein says. We lookat these every day. We have outright bans and deletions. I mean, we kick peopleoff the site all the time.

So, can the MeWe social network put an end to giants like Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram? Only time will tell. But with Weinstein reporting seven-million global users, its definitely something to watch out for.

MeWeRolling StoneNew York TimesSetting The Record Straight: Rolling Stones Dishonest Hit Job Against MeWe.

Go here to see the original:
MeWe: The New Social Network That May Put Facebook Out of Business - Parentology