Plenty of people have tried to replace Twitter/X, but only a few new social media apps have achieved any traction, notably Threads and Bluesky.
But a new app created by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams isn’t trying to replace those, but instead do one of the things I most value about social media, and absolutely nothing else …
Williams says the problem with social media is that it has gradually dropped the “social” part.
When Facebook was ubiquitous it was probably a pretty good reflection of many people’s real-life relationships. It told you where they lived, who you knew in common, and all kinds of other details [but] social networks became “social media,” which, at first, meant receiving content from people you chose to hear from.
But in the quest to maximize engagement, the timeline of friends and people you picked to follow turned into a free-for-all battle for attention. And it turns out, for most people, your friends aren’t as entertaining as (god forbid) influencers who spend their waking hours making “content.”
In other words, social media became…media.
I can relate to that. I reluctantly joined Facebook way back when because a social group I belonged to started organizing meetups on the platform. I was initially very conservative about adding Facebook friends, limiting them to real-life friends. But as it increasingly became the best/only way to find out what was happening in some of my interest groups, I was quickly forced to ditch that process. Today I’m Facebook friends with people I’ve never met, or casual acquaintances I say hello to once a year.
But one aspect I do very much like has been the way it facilitates real-life meetups. There’ve been countless times I’ve posted about a trip I’m making only to have a friend message me to say they are there too, and would I like to meet up? Or vice-versa, when I spot their posts. That’s resulted in meals with friends in places as far apart as Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Tokyo.
And that’s what Mozi is all about.
The primary value proposition of Mozi (today) is simple: It lets you know when you’re going to be in the same place (city or event) as someone you know. And the goal is straightforward: to connect more often—and in person—with the people you care about.
For example, I just got back from Miami. Before going, I put my plan (just the city and what days) into Mozi. This information was shared just with my contacts (minus any I wouldn’t want it to be). So, even before going, I was able to see both the people I know who live there and other friends who were visiting at the same time, so we could meet up and make plans.
That’s it. There are no posts, no photos, just real-life places and plans.
The app is very privacy-focused. Although you share your contacts to find out who you know on Mozi, the data is encrypted and never used by the company for anything else. Only mutual contacts can view your location/planned location.
So far, Mozi has only had a soft-launch with a limited audience, so it’s no surprise to me that none of my contacts are yet using it. But unlike Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon – where all I did was claim my username and then never use them again – I have actually installed Mozi.
We’ll just have to see whether it can get through the Catch-22 problem of nobody using a new social media app because nobody is using the app.
Mozi is iOS-only for now, and only supports Sign In With Apple.
Image: Mozi
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