They call it the “privacy revolution.” People are wanting more privacy when interacting online, so they are gravitating to new private social networks, like Ello and MeWe. How do marketers capture this audience and engage on social channels without advertising or company pages?
For the purpose of this discussion, we will concentrate on MeWe. In her predictions post, Phyllis Khare touts the potential of MeWe among the newcomers in the realm of private social networks.
“MeWe empowers its members to comfortably share their real lives online and easily communicate with the people and circles that matter most to them,” said Mark Weinstein, CEO and Founder of MeWe during an interview I conducted with him about the launch of the platform.
Before Facebook and LinkedIn had company pages, marketers utilized groups to meet their audiences. Khare predicts MeWe will grow, especially among small interest groups. Is your audience one of those groups? If so, utilizing MeWe and other private social channels should be on your radar.
Ideas For Marketing on Private Social Networks:
- Create a company group for your fans, customers, and employees (who are your biggest fans).
- Join like-minded groups and post interesting, engaging content.
- Create an interest group for your market.
- MeWe allows you to change your persona for separate groups. Utilize this to highlight information and ideas you want to come-through based on the interest group.
- Add a MeWe share button on your blog and website. If you are creating great content, make it easy to share on these new networks.
- MeWe allows you to upload files (like Dropbox) for sharing and collaboration. Consider creating a collaboration document to encourage members to add content. Or share a white paper, without requiring going to another site.
MeWe makes it easy for users to share your posts on other social networks (even at the same time), raising the potential for content sharing to move beyond MeWe to the other popular social channels.
No Curated Content
Mainstream social media platforms use algorithms to decide what they think users should read, which really frustrates marketers. The private networks contend they are not tracking user data, so all content posted has the potential to be seen by followers or group members.
“MeWe is the platform for the future,” said Weinstein. “It lets users actually see all the posts they want to see, because we do not curate their feed.”
Better Understanding of Group Members in MeWe
Group tweet, a MeWe feature, allows members of a group (depending on personal settings) see what other members are tweeting. It’s a fantastic way to aid in your research to identify group member interests and potential influencers.
Businesses and nonprofits might consider utilizing MeWe personal groups for internal collaboration. The private group provides editable documents, private messaging, event calendar, separate discussion groups, and the ability to build threads from different idea streams.
User base and content
United States
Although MeWe has not intentionally positioned itself as a social network for conservatives, Mashable noted in November 2020 that its active userbase trends conservative. The platform’s choice not to moderate misinformation on the platform has attracted conservatives who felt mainstream social networks were censoring their posts, and those who have been banned from those platforms. MeWe is considered an alt-tech platform.
MeWe’s loose moderation has attracted conspiracy theorists, including QAnon supporters and those promoting the Stop the Steal theory related to the 2020 US presidential election. The platform has also become a hub for anti-vaxxers, far-right militia groups, and extreme content. It has been compared to Gab and used to organize anti-lockdown protests. The Boogaloo movement turned to MeWe after being banned from Facebook.
MeWe’s lenient content moderation policies have drawn in various groups, such as QAnon supporters and proponents of the Stop the Steal theory surrounding the 2020 US presidential election. The platform has also become a gathering place for anti-vaccine activists, far-right militias, and the dissemination of extreme content. MeWe has been likened to Gab and has been utilized to coordinate protests against lockdown measures. Following their expulsion from Facebook, the Boogaloo movement found refuge on MeWe.
On January 22, 2021, MeWe’s CEO said in an interview with NPR that “MeWe is serious about putting limits on what people can say” and that he does not like sites where “anything goes”, describing such sites as “disgusting”. He also said that MeWe would be hiring more moderation staff. In the coverage, NPR noted that MeWe’s stated rules are still “laxer than Facebook and Twitter,” and that MeWe had not yet banned groups dedicated to QAnon.
Hong Kong
MeWe gained popularity in Hong Kong in November 2020, with users migrating from Facebook due to concerns with possible pro-China censorship and moderation. The popularity of MeWe in Hong Kong has been attributed to the city’s suspicion of any restraint on free speech, after the Chinese government imposed significant restrictions on the expression of dissent following the 2019–20 protests, including the Hong Kong national security law. MeWe communities in Hong Kong reflect everyday-life interests, with social media consultants in Hong Kong reporting that they have not seen extremist content in the communities they manage.
Reception
In a 2015 review of the beta MeWe service, British writer John Leonard called MeWe “well-designed and pretty intuitive”, but questioned whether the company’s business model was a viable one. Andrew Orr, reviewing the site in April 2018, felt that service was a good one but that it did not have any advantages over existing social media sites. That, he felt, would make it difficult for MeWe to attract users. In late 2020, the site also gained popularity in Hong Kong due to concerns surrounding possible pro-China censorship of Facebook. MeWe takes a light approach to content moderation according to some sources.
In 2020, data scientist Wong Ho-wa criticized the site for its lack of multi-factor authentication. MeWe intends to add support for two-factor authentication in the first or second quarter of 2021.
Business
In 1998, entrepreneur Mark Weinstein and Jonathan Wolfe established SuperGroups.com, a social media website. The site was closed by its largest investor in 2001. Gathering the same leadership team, Weinstein incorporated Sgrouples Inc. in 2011. MeWe was incorporated as a subsidiary of Sgrouples, and based in Culver City, California. Over the next six years, Sgrouples raised about $10 million from investors including lynda.com founder Lynda Weinman, fashion designer Rachel Roy, and authors Jack Canfield and Marci Shimoff.
MeWe finished its initial financing round in July 2018 by raising $5.2 million in new funds. The company began work on upgrading MeWe and initiating work on an enterprise version called MeWePRO.
MeWe emphasizes its commitment to privacy and remaining ad-free. MeWe has said they will never use cookies or spyware to generate content about users, and that it will not track user activity in any way or sell user data to a third party. MeWe has described itself as the “anti-Facebook” due to its focus on data privacy, lack of moderation, and simple newsfeed algorithm. MeWe had 20 million registered users.
The MeWe business model does not rely on advertising revenue; rather, MeWe generates revenue from MeWe Premium subscriptions and from users purchasing premium enhancements a-la-carte such as a live voice / live video calling, extra storage, custom emojis, and custom themes. In December 2019, MeWe launched “MeWe Premium”, an optional $4.99 per month subscription that gives users a bundle of enhancements including: live voice / live video calling; unlimited custom themes; unlimited custom emojis and stickers; video journals for stories; 100GB of MeWe Cloud Storage; and more.
Mark Weinstein is the founder of MeWe and was its CEO until April 2021. Jeffrey Scott Edell became the company’s CEO and was named as Chairman in 2022. Advisors to MeWe include computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and filmmaker Cullen Hoback.
