I don't mean to be dramatic but Facebook has a big lead on the future of social networking, in fact this may be the future of a lot of life.
What am I talking about?
Messaging apps.
Yep, messaging apps. Those things we use to chat with our friends because they are cooler than texting. That thing that businesses are starting to use for marketing more and more. That thing that does basically everything in China...
Wait, "does basically everything in China..." What does that mean?
Just read this article and you will get the basic idea of just how important to everyday life a messaging app has become:
https://qz.com/1167024/all-the-things-you-can-and-cant-do-with-your-wechat-account-in-china/
Here is one little quote from the article:
"As the app continues to add features, people will only become more dependent on it over time. But the scary part is that WeChat gathers and monitors user data that can be shared with the government whenever deemed necessary. Police have arrested WeChat users for writing messages critical of the government. In some cases such messages are blocked from reaching their recipients, but the sender isn’t alerted to the fact. "
I don't think there is any doubt that Facebook would love for Messenger to become just as important in America.
This would be a disaster. An epic disaster.
What we need, and need right now, is a solid decentralized and encrypted alternative. To that end I think that a Steem powered messenger app is just the ticket.
Here is what it would need:
- Be open source
- Run on a truly decentralized blockchain
- Automatically function on a mesh network (for at least some functions)
- Be very well encrypted
- Have no single company that could be a single point of attack
- Have some type of API that would let 3rd party companies create extensions
- Work as a multi-coin wallet
- Allow "tips" to be sent (perfect for a Steemit type of feature)
We need something like this ASAP.
Unless some major new technology unseats smart phones then I think it is clear that America is headed in the same direction as China when it comes to messenger apps.
That also means that all of the scary, dystopian, stuff going on in China could happen in America.
We need an alternative
I have been keeping my eyes open but I have yet to find anything that is going to give Facebook a run for their money in the broader population.
http://my-echo.com/ is pretty close
https://riot.im/app/#/home isn't bad
But nothing is moving in the direction of being what is needed to take on Facebook.
Something that is reasonably comparable in feature set but creates a mini steemit like economy in the app could be enough to grab the market share needed to at least be a real alternative, if not the winner in this battle.
Does anyone know of a project like this?
If so tell me in the comments.