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People have been fastly switching from the social media platforms — such as Facebook and Twitter — to join the privacy-focused app MeWe. In June 2020, MeWe announced they had roughly eight million users. As of Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, the social network reported having 16 million members.
According to its website, “MeWe has an honorable business model where members are customers to serve and respect, not data to be shared or sold.”
You have full control over your newsfeeds and the order of how posts appear. We do not manipulate, filter, or change the order of your newsfeeds.
The idea behind the network began in Alburquerque, New Mexico when the early founders and good friends discussed their vision over dinner. They felt the big technology companies were treating people as commodities instead of human beings.
Mark Weinstein — the company’s founder — dreamed of a better online communication platform. He envisioned “a social and chat app that would give people everywhere the most exciting and helpful sharing technology with privacy built into the design.”
Weinstein wanted his members to feel respected and safe. Soon he moved to Mountain View, California where his vision became reality. He hired a team of engineers to design and build the world’s first privacy-by-design social media platform — the Sgrouples beta project.
After testing the beta project for three years they launched the program and called it MeWe. It made its official launch during the South by Southwest conference and festival in 2016. They honored the network as the 2016 Start-Up of the Year Finalist for “Innovative World Technology.”
Currently, the ad-free social networking app is number one in the Google Play Store. MeWe also holds the number three slot for the most downloaded in all of the app stores. Last week the privacy-first “anti-Facebook” network added 2.5 million users.
Fifty percent of the network’s users are located outside of North America. MeWe can now translate over 20 languages. It is currently the number one social app in Hong Kong. The company expects their numbers to rise more — as more people seek a network that respects them.
MeWe prides itself on not sharing data. Nor do they “target or sell” things to their customers. They also do not manipulate their user’s newsfeeds. It also offers premium subscriptions and business pages for $1.99 per month.
At this time they are facing slight hardware challenges. However, MeWe is working hard to keep up with the explosion of growth.
Written by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
ZD Net: ‘Anti-Facebook’ MeWe social network adds 2.5 million new members in one week; by Eileen Brown
USA Today: Facebook rival MeWe gains 2.5M members in a week as users seek privacy; by Coral Murphy Marcos
MeWe: The MeWe Backstory
Inline Image by DavAdr Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
Featured Image by Suikotei Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License