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MeWe (The Next-
All that sounds well and good, but for anyone who is seriously thinking of making the switch over to MeWe there are definitely obstacles to overcome and a number of challenges along the way.
The biggest drawback for anyone trying to switch over to MeWe is the simple fact that most people are still currently on Facebook. MeWe currently has just a little over 1 million users which may sound like a lot but it’s still very small compared to Facebook’s 2.19 billion members, and chances are most of your friends and contacts aren’t on MeWe yet, and trying to get them to come along with you can be quite the challenge in itself.
There can be challenges that come with any kind of “move” (even an online move) and I certainly know from experience what a difficult process it can be to try and switch from one social media network to another, that’s the whole reason why I decided to write this article, I want to help others have a smoother transition than I did by sharing some key things I learned through trial and error.
Yes, it can be really difficult to switch from one social platform to another, but with the direction Facebook is going I really think it is a good idea and an investment that is worth the time and effort.
CHALLENGES
One of the things I noticed when I started using MeWe is that there aren’t a lot of tutorials or “how to” helps for new users who are trying to learn how to navigate the site and find their way around.
In a lot of ways, MeWe has been designed to resemble Facebook in the way it functions and even the way it looks and I think the designers of MeWe are counting on these similarities to make it easier for members to switch over from one to the other. In a lot of ways these similarities do help to make the transition smooth, but in other ways these similarities can also cause some confusion in cases where you are used to certain features that Facebook offers but then you aren’t seeing those same options available on MeWe or not in the same places that you expect them to be.
Another challenge when making the switch from one social network to another is the simple fact that a social media “network” highly depends on the presence and interactions with the different people you know. But if all your friends and contacts are still over on Facebook and you’re all alone in the switch over to MeWe then you’ll quickly find that there’s not a whole lot to do on MeWe, not a whole lot “happening”, and your first impressions may be that it is a very quiet and lonely place to hang out.
As they say, “Everyone’s on Facebook because EVERYONE’s on Facebook”, so even people with the best intentions of making the switch to MeWe can quickly become discouraged when their network of friends and contacts aren’t onboard with the switch over.
So let’s take a look at these specific challenges and see if we can’t make things as smooth as possible for you as you begin exploring and using the MeWe social network.
EMPHASIS ON SECURITY
As a starting note, I think it is important for me to just point out the fact that the primary focus of MeWe is to be a secure network that respects your privacy and freedom of speech. That said, it is important to understand that the MeWe team is working at improving their user friendliness and developing special features that will make this network a delightful platform to use.
Privacy and security both come first with MeWe, so please don’t get discouraged if a feature you liked from another social media site isn’t yet available on MeWe. As the designing team at MeWe will say, “MeWe is secure, not perfect”, but they are also still fairly new, having only officially launched their platform in 2016. And yet, even in its very earliest stages it quickly drew attention in the world of technology. By October of 2016 they were named as one of the “best entrepreneurial companies in America”, and by January 2017 they were already picked by Tech Trends as “a company to watch” (a status they have been able to maintain even into 2018)!
In spite of the fact that Facebook has several years on them in their development, MeWe has some of the best technology experts in the world working really hard to build this platform to not only be just as good as Facebook, but they’re aiming to make it even better than Facebook!
What’s more, with Facebook under a lot of investigation and losing a lot of support in numerous scandals, MeWe is finding a lot of support from wealthy benefactors who are ready to see an alternative to Facebook arise – one that has the integrity to protect the information of its members. MeWe has been able to raise a great deal of money this past year to help them in their efforts as they compete against Facebook’s billion dollar enterprise. Of all the other companies that have tried to stand in the gap and provide a good alternative to Facebook, MeWe actually seems to have a really good chance of succeeding!
Yes, they are still fairly new as far as social media sites go, but they’re growing rapidly! So again, please don’t get discouraged right away if MeWe isn’t what you expected, or if the transition is harder than you thought it would be, I think it’s definitely worth giving them a chance to prove themselves.
It may still be a work in progress, but the MeWe team is really striving to please their clients and improve their site while still maintaining the integrity of privacy and security that they are committed to – the very thing that drew us to them in the first place!
CENSORSHIP
One of the growing issues and concerns related to Facebook has been their method of censoring content and often stepping on political or religious rights and the constitutional freedom of speech in the process.
On MeWe there is no censorship happening behind the scenes. MeWe leaves the censorship of content completely in your hands. On MeWe you only see content that is shared by your friends (unlike Facebook which has ads and sponsored posts that are also displayed in your Newsfeed), and when you’re only seeing things that your friends are posting there’s really no need for MeWe to interfere.
If you don’t like the content that a particular friend or contact shares, you can change that contacts preferences to limit what you see, or you can remove them from your contacts plain and simple.
If you are part of a group and you don’t like what’s being shared there, again, you’re more than welcome to leave the group and find a different group that is better suited for you, or even start your own group.
On Facebook these days it seems like everyone is so quick to feel offended and quick to report posts that they feel are “offensive” in content. Most of the members on MeWe, however, seem to be more of the opinion that if you’re offended by something you don’t need to report it to some high up “babysitter” to censor, you just take action yourself and stop receiving posts from the people that offend you, or remove yourself from the groups you aren’t happy with.
What’s more, there is no political agenda on MeWe. I know Facebook tries to claim
the same, but their actions speak louder than their words. A lot of conservative
political, pro-
This does not happen on MeWe! On MeWe if someone reports content to the MeWe team they will evaluate it to make sure that there is no illegal activity going on, but if the content is not something that breaks the law they leave it alone. There is no political or religious censorship on MeWe, because there is no political or religious agenda.
GETTING STARTED
Signing up and setting up your account with MeWe is pretty straight forward: create an account, confirm the account through an email link, and login!
Once you’ve clicked on the link in the confirmation email you should be automatically directed to your home page (also known as your newsfeed or dashboard). This is a main summary page of recent activity and such, which (at this point) there won’t be much to see here, but you can always come back to this page at any time by just clicking on the “home” icon in the top menu bar.
If you look at the far right of this same menu bar you’ll see an avatar icon you
can click on which contains a drop down menu where you can choose to go to your profile
page, view your contacts, adjust your settings, etc.
Personalizing your settings would be a great place to start, just to make sure everything is set up on your account the way you would like it to be.
Once the settings are the way you want them to be you can head over to your profile and set it up and make it look more personalized by uploading a profile picture and background image, and entering whatever information about yourself you care to share with your friends and contacts.
After getting your profile page personalized you’re probably anxious to start exploring and using the different networking features, but (unfortunately) there’s not a whole lot you can do on a networking site if you don’t have any contacts to network with. So the next step is definitely to get some contacts to start interacting with.
CONTACTS
I’m not going to lie to you, the process of accumulating contacts on MeWe can be a real challenge! It is probably the hardest thing you will have to do on MeWe, and it will inevitably take a lot of time, effort, and patience.
If you click on the “My Contacts” tab you will be taken to a page where you will see the option to run a search for contacts as well as a button for inviting new friends to MeWe. If you don’t actually know anyone on MeWe then the search field is not likely to be of much help to you. I also did not find the “invite” button to be very helpful because, quite frankly, people aren’t typically interested in responding to automated invitations, so it may be an easy way to let lots of people know that you’re on MeWe, but it’s not likely to bring in very many people to join you.
So with those options not very effective in drawing in a crowd, how about trying some of these other tactics instead . . . ?
1) Send Out Personalized Invitations
Talk to your friends in person, message or text them, send them a friendly email, put the invitation in your own words – however you feel most comfortable communicating with them.
Even just a simple message like, “Hey, I’ve decided to start using MeWe.com instead of Facebook now, but it’s kind of lonely there without you. I’d love to have your company and continue to stay connected with you through that program, would you consider joining and looking me up there?”
A personalized message like this is much more likely to grab your friend’s attention than any automatic or generic invite from MeWe would.
2) Speak Positively – Avoid Negative “Attacks”
One thing I don’t really appreciate about MeWe is how very strongly critical it is
towards Facebook. Yes, they are really trying hard to attract the audience of people
who are currently unhappy with Facebook, and yes, their whole purpose for starting
up in the first place was because of a lot of the issues and lack of security of
using Facebook, so it’s understandable that they would be aggressive in pointing
out Facebook’s flaws and really up-
The problem with this, however, is that there are a lot of people who don’t actually see a problem with Facebook, or don’t feel like the issues are really as big a concern as a competitor site might try to make them out to be. After all, it’s really common (and even expected) that a competing site would be critical and exaggerate the flaws of their competition network, so it’s not really something that’s going to convince most people.
There are also a lot of people who have it in mind that they have been using Facebook
for x-
What’s more, they know as well as you do that all THEIR friends and contacts are also on Facebook, so it’s not an easy decision to just pick up and move to another social media site. It isn’t easy to start over on a new social media site, so can we really blame them if they’re not all on board with the idea or not really ready to jump in and join you?
I kind of learned the hard way that pointing out all the things that are “wrong” on Facebook is NOT the way to convince others to make a switch over with you. People like to stick with what is comfortable and familiar, and instead of welcoming a new change they’re more likely to get defensive if you start criticizing their social network of choice and trying to point out all the faults with Facebook when they’re blissfully content and actually very much enjoying their experience there.
So, let’s take out the bashing, the slandering, the criticizing, and the negative approaches in trying to convince others to see things “our way” and let’s take on a completely different approach.
Think about it for a moment, which social media sites have you been a part of in the past and what was it that made you join them in the first place? Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever, what was it that led you to join in the first place? Wasn’t it the simple fact that there were a lot of people you know already using it and enjoying so many benefits and “connectedness” that just made you feel like you were missing out by NOT being part of it?!
Well, let’s try to take that same approach in attracting our friends to join THIS network. Let’s aim to have SO much fun and enjoy SO many benefits, that our friends will feel like they’re missing out on something great by NOT joining us!
Instead of having a negative approach of bashing something they like and are enjoying using, make it a goal to be positive in talking about how great MeWe is and all the benefits you enjoy in being a part of it!
Share about how much you enjoy not having all the ads, and how you love seeing only the things that are being posted by your friends and not wasting tons of time sifting through sponsored posts and content from companies or complete strangers. Talk about how much you enjoy having the control over whose posts you see rather than having the social media site choosing for you (and often making you miss out on posts you really would have wanted to see). Point out the positive features and keep the conversations friendly and upbeat. If your friends see how much you enjoy being on MeWe (as opposed to how much you’re not enjoying being on Facebook) they’ll be much more likely to be intrigued, curious, and interested in maybe giving it a try for themselves.
3) Encourage Friends to “Try” MeWe – Don’t Beg Them to “Leave” Facebook
Taking the above concept just one step further, you don’t need to convince your friends to “drop” Facebook in order to join you on MeWe. A lot of people are open and willing to give new apps and new programs a try. What’s more, a LOT of people are using MULTIPLE social media networks already (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Messenger, Skype, etc). I think you’ll find that a lot of your friends are willing to try it out and see what MeWe has to offer, and from trying it out they’ll decide for themselves whether or not it’s “right” for them.
If you’re genuinely concerned about the online security of your friends you are welcome to talk to them about that (more on that next), but try not to pressure them to leave one or the other social media site – no one likes feeling pressured and no one likes being told what to do – don’t try to pressure them into making a decision to “leave”, instead, just focus on encouraging them to “join”.
Instead of thinking of MeWe as a “replacement” for Facebook, I think a better approach might be to present it as a “supplement” to Facebook. You can be perfectly safe using Facebook if you’re very careful about WHAT you share, so for anyone who isn’t yet ready to leave Facebook it would make sense to help them think of Facebook as a place for their PUBLIC life, but that MeWe would be a much safer place for posting things that are more PRIVATE in nature – or a place to connect with your closest and most intimate of friends.
4) Let Your Friends Know WHY Your Switching to MeWe (but without bashing!)
If you’re in the process of switching from one social media network to another I’m sure you have a very good reason (most likely several reasons) why you’re putting in the effort to make the switch.
It’s okay to share your reasons with your friends and let them know WHY you’re switching over to using MeWe, but as you do so, just remember that you’ll “catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”!
Also, if you can make your reasons “personal” they’ll be much more effective! If you’ve encountered issues with the other social media sites go ahead and let your friends know exactly what happened, and the different things that have led you to make the decision to switch to a different site.
Again, be careful not to “bash” or “attack” the social network that your friends currently enjoy – just share your experiences, your concerns, and the basic facts behind why you feel the need to move on.
5) Be Creative and Tactful
No doubt you didn’t “jump on the bandwagon” and decide to up and switch social media networks the very first time you encountered an issue or heard someone voice their concern. The decision to branch out and try something “new” is one that comes as a result of a complex process. Before someone even begins to think about or consider the possibility of trying something new they usually first have to hear about that thing multiple times, in multiple forms, and from multiple sources – over time!!
Be careful not to be annoying about it. Bringing up the subject too frequently can be really annoying and can actually be a major “turn off” for people. Recognize that getting the attention of your friends is going to take time and is going to be a process.
Introduce the topic and then leave it alone for a while. Bring it up again at a different
time and in a different way and then let it alone again. Don’t spill out everything
all at once in a single sitting, and don’t make every encounter you have with them
seem like part of an agenda to “convert them”. Take your time by just presenting
a little here and there in a very non-
6) Reward the Friends Who DO Join You on MeWe
This step takes some real intentionality and pro-
Friends who join MeWe on a “trial basis” are very likely to drop it and run back to what’s familiar if there isn’t anything to gain from being there. So when you see a friend join, send them a welcome message, start a chat, engage with them and let them know how glad you are that they’ve joined.
Also, start posting things! Share your thoughts, share some pictures, share some content of interest to try and “get the ball rolling”. At first you might feel as if you’re just “talking to yourself”, or you feel like you’re the only one whose active on MeWe – that’s okay! Show your friends what it has to offer, give them content that will keep them “coming back”, engage with them on a regular basis, and be patient as you wait for them to decide whether or not they’re going to stay. Remember, the same struggle you have in trying to attract friends and contacts is going to be a real struggle for them as well – and not everyone is up to the task!
WHILE YOU WAIT
While you’re waiting for your friends to respond and join you on MeWe there are a few things you can do in the mean time:
1) Post!
When your friends DO join they’re going to want a sample of what they can expect the experience to be like, so don’t wait for them to join before you start posting!
Even if you feel like you’re “talking to yourself” that’s okay! It’s an investment!
When your friends join they’ll already have content they can look through, and as they see the kind of content you are sharing (pictures, videos, thoughts, and experiences) they’ll get a feel for the kinds of things they could start sharing, they’ll already have posts they can begin commenting on and engaging with, and they’ll get the impression right from the start that this is a “happening place” and a place that’s worth being a part of.
2) Join a Group!
There are several groups getting started on MeWe where you can connect with like-
In the beginning it can be a good idea to join several different groups to get a feel for what goes on in the group and what the different groups are like. As you get a feel for what each group is like you can leave which ever ones you don’t particularly like and just stay in the groups that you enjoy being a part of.
3) Familiarize Yourself With How MeWe Works
Every social media site has its own unique features and even though MeWe has tried to resemble Facebook and include a lot of the same functions, there are definitely some differences that are worth exploring and getting accustomed to. We’ll talk about some of these differences in the next section, but the best way to familiarize yourself with this new site is to play around with it and just start using it and exploring the different features.
MEWE VS. FACEBOOK – A FEW SIMILARITIES
If you’re familiar with Facebook then you’ve probably notices a lot of the similarities there are between Facebook and MeWe, but you may feel a bit confused by some of the differences, so I thought I would just take some time here to run a little “comparison” between the two platforms, taking a look at both some similarities as well as some key differences that can be a help to you as you begin to learn your way around MeWe.
First off, let’s just look at several of the ways in which MeWe is similar to Facebook:
1) Looks and Functions Very Much the Same Way. MeWe is designed to look very similar to Facebook, especially in the design of the newsfeed and profile pages. You can share posts, upload pictures and videos, engage in online chats, and even join groups. All the same basic activities you can do on Facebook are also available on MeWe.
2) Share Details About Your Life and Interests. MeWe makes it easy to list some “at a glance” information about yourself on your profile page. You can share which city you are living in, what your job is, your relationship status, interests, and more. You can share as much or as little information as you like for your friends to see.
3) Create Posts. You can create posts on your profile page or in the groups you are a part of. These posts can include text, photos, videos, gifs, polls, and more!
4) React to Posts, Comments, Photos, and Other Content Shared. Whenever your friends share a post or any content you can let them know what you think of it by sharing a reaction. On Facebook this is called “liking” a post, but unlike Facebook you are not limited to only just 6 reactions on MeWe; on MeWe you can use any of the 1,000+ emojis as your reaction, making it possible for you to actually respond to your friend’s content in the way that most accurately represents your true response!
5) Tag Your Friends. You can tag any of your contacts in a post or comment by using the @ sign followed by the person’s name (example: “@anonymous friend”). When you tag a friend they will receive a notification from MeWe to be sure they don’t miss it!
6) Share External Links. If you find an article or YouTube video, or anything from other websites that you want to share with your MeWe contacts you can copy the web address (aka: URL) and put it in any post to share. A thumbnail and header will show up with a link to the external site so your friends can click on it to follow the link.
7) Create Albums for Your Pictures and Videos. Just like in Facebook, you can put your pictures and videos into photo albums to keep them organized and grouped together.
8) Chat with Friends. MeWe shows you when any of your contacts are online so that you can engage in a chat with them if you like. You can share pictures, videos, and other content with your friends in a chat, and it also includes the option of making audio and video calls as well.
9) Groups. You can create or join groups to interact with people (even people who
are not your direct contacts) regarding any number of topics, or even just creating
private groups for specific friends or like-
10) Manage Your Groups. If you are the one to start up a group there are a lot of tools and settings to help you manage the group. Many of the settings are the same as what Facebook offers, but MeWe actually gives even MORE control to group Owners and even better tools for making it easier to monitor and manage your groups.
11) Screen Members Who Want to Join Your Group. Again, for those who are interested in starting their own groups, MeWe makes it possible for you to set up “entry questions” for anyone who is interested in joining your group. You can ask up to 4 questions (Facebook only offers 3) of new members to get an idea of whether or not a particular person would fit well into your group’s specific “niche”.
12) Report or Block. If any content you encounter on MeWe directly violates the Terms and Policies of MeWe, or may be suspected of illegal activity, you can very easily report the questionable post, or the person, to the MeWe team. If you feel uncomfortable with any of your contacts you can block them, which will both remove them from being a contact of yours and also make it so they cannot find you again on MeWe so they will not be able to connect with you at all. The same is true within groups, any member can be reported to the group Owner, and the group Owner has the ability to report any members or suspicious activity to the MeWe team, or to remove and block any member from the group.
13) Host Events. Just like on Facebook, MeWe gives you an online calendar and makes it possible for you to post information about events that you want your contacts to know about and attend.
MEWE VS. FACEBOOK – SOME KEY DIFFERENCES
By now you’re probably starting to wonder, “So how is MeWe different from Facebook?” – well, there are actually a lot of differences, so let’s take a look at those now:
1) Change Your Profile Pictures Without Drawing Attention to It. On Facebook whenever you change your profile or cover pictures it gets announced in the form of a post that notifies all your friends about the change. MeWe does not create any post or give your friends any notification when you change your profile or cover pictures.
That said, if you really want your friends to know that you have changed your profile picture you can always create your own post with the picture and a simple comment (ex. “Hey, take a look, I changed my profile picture!”) – it’s not too hard to make that post yourself to draw attention to your new picture if you really want to share it out.
2) Choose Your Own Reactions. Unlike Facebook you have a LOT more choices in how
you can react to what your friends share. With Facebook you really only have the
option of choosing from 6 emojis as pre-
3) You Cannot Post Directly on Your Friends “Wall” or Timeline. If you’re coming from Facebook then you’re probably very used to posting directly to your friend’s timelines or “walls”, but that’s not the same on MeWe. On MeWe, if you go to the profile page of a friend or contact and attempt to “share” something with them, MeWe will open up the “chat” feature and post that content as a “Private Post” that only you and that one contact can see.
The reason for this is that everyone on MeWe is responsible for the content on their own page (this is part of MeWe’s commitment to keep the full control of your content entirely in your hands) – so you can’t add content to your friend’s profile pages and they can’t add content to yours (apart from “commenting” or “emojing”, that is).
So what is the MeWe alternative to posting on a friend’s timeline?
If you have something you want to share specifically with a certain friend or contact you simply post it on YOUR profile page and use the @ sign to tag your friend in that post. They will see a notification that you tagged them in a post and will visit your profile page to view the content. They can then decide if they want to just comment on the post there on your profile page or if they want to “share” your post to their timeline so that all of THEIR contacts can also see it.
This may be different than you’re used to, and at first it may feel a bit “strange”, especially to anyone who is used to using Facebook and really enjoys posting on their friend’s timelines, but really, it’s just a slight difference that may take some getting used to, but the more you use MeWe the more you’ll get used to it and this “new normal” will start to feel natural to you.
Of course, if you still really miss the option of posting directly on a friend’s timeline you can always send in feedback and let the MeWe team know how you feel about it. Who knows, if enough people send feedback saying the same thing it might be a feature that the MeWe team could add in the future!
4) MeWe Doesn’t Ask For Your Personal Information. When you join Facebook you hardly have to share any personal information at all. Also, on your profile page there are not nearly as many “about tabs” to make you feel compelled to share details about your life or past. MeWe does give you some special slots for sharing your basic information (city where you live, job, relationship status, etc), but it does not ask you to list the places where you have lived in the past, what other names you go by, or who all your family relations are. If you want to share any of those details you can always list them in the general “About Me” tab, but for the sake of personal privacy MeWe does not provide specific slots for all these things so that no one feels compelled or obligated to share that information.
5) Post Audio Recordings. MeWe has a feature that Facebook does not in that it allows you to use your microphone to record a voice or audio recording and post it! So cool!
6) No Live Video Posts. MeWe currently does not provide a “Live Video” option for posts. This may change in the future, I don’t know, but for now it isn’t a feature that is offered.
7) No “Check In” Links to Post. MeWe does not offer the “check in” service that tells
your friends where you are. This is definitely for security reasons and in keeping
with MeWe’s “no tracking” policy. If you really want to share with your friends where
you are in the world you don’t need a special tracking device to do so. MeWe is focused
on your privacy and online security which is why they do not add any plug-
8) No “Face Recognition” Software. Again, for the sake of your privacy and security MeWe does not use (and never will use) any face recognition software. What this means practically is that you can’t actually “tag” your friends in a picture unless you create a comment for that image and use the @ sign to tag their name in the comment.
Note: If you are used to using this feature in Facebook then you may miss having the ability to tag friends directly in the picture, but remember, face recognition software is another way that websites collect data about you and collect images you are in from all across the web. It can also be a breach in security if you are tagged in an image that gives away your current location where it would be easy for strangers to find you. Tagging people in an image may feel like ‘innocent fun’ but it Face Recognition is no joke – it’s another way in which you are being tracked and “spied on”, which is just not right!
9) Completely Editable Headers for External Links. When you share an article, video, or any link to another website you actually have the flexibility to edit the post that features this link. You can edit the link title, add your own description, scroll through image options for that particular link, and manage the URL web address. In Facebook when you add a link to another website Facebook automatically generates the post for you (with maybe an option to choose from a selection of images), which means that sometimes the link doesn’t actually show what you want it to show, or the description of the link doesn’t always match the content you are trying to share. MeWe gives you the freedom to edit the link to be more of what you want it to be.
10) #Tag Your Images. In addition to having the option of creating photo albums of your pictures, MeWe also gives the option for you to create hash tags for the posts you share that contain images. These #Tagged images will be organized and grouped together in your #Tag albums.
11) MeWe Does Not Collect Photos of You. In Facebook, anytime you are tagged in an image Facebook gathers all the images of you and puts them all in one album. MeWe does not do this. However, if you like having all the photos of you grouped in one place you could easily create a photo album specifically for selfies or images you are in and just add the pictures to the album manually. It’s up to you whether that’s something you really want or not.
12) Not A Lot of Photo Album Details. As of yet, MeWe does not give a lot of options for sharing specific information about a photo album. You have the option of naming the albums, but there is no section for entering an album description or sharing about the specific location where the pictures were taken, or any specifics on the date or people you were with, etc. Again, MeWe is not about collecting data from you, so if you want to share that information in the post that shares your images with friends that’s fine, but MeWe isn’t going to prompt you to share that kind of information.
13) No Direct Link to Share Photo Albums Outside of MeWe. As of yet, MeWe does not give any direct link for sharing your photo albums with anyone outside of MeWe. They may add this feature later on, but currently it is not an option.
14) My Cloud Space On MeWe. MeWe has a great feature called “My Cloud” which helps to keep track of every picture, video, file, and post that you share on MeWe. Everything you have ever posted (even things you’ve shared to groups or posted long ago) gets gathered and organized in this one area to help you keep track of it all.
The “My Cloud” space makes it very quick and easy for you to look back on everything you have ever shared on MeWe, to find any content you have ever posted and easily edit or delete any content as needed.
This simple feature also helps you to maintain FULL CONTROL of all your content at all times and to know EXACTLY what you have shared.
Note: This does NOT include any comments you make on other people’s posts, pictures, or content – comments do not get stored in your cloud!
An important thing to know about your cloud space is the fact that any content you delete from anywhere else on MeWe (from your profile page, albums, groups, etc) will NOT be deleted from your cloud but will still stay in your cloud space incase you want to access that content later or want to keep it as part of your records of knowing what all you have shared online.
If you want to delete something off of MeWe permanently you need to delete it directly from your cloud. The only exception to this is any comments you make on friend or group posts – comments don’t get stored in your cloud space.
Anything you delete from ANYWHERE else on MeWe will still be found in your cloud space, but anything you delete directly from your cloud will ALSO be deleted from all the other locations where you have posted that same content!
15) You Can Delete Your MeWe Account (and Content) At Any Time! One major downside to using Facebook is that it does not give you the option of deleting your account. Even if you try to “disable” your account, all the content you have ever shared still stays completely in tact. The best you can do is go through an manually delete every post, every picture, every bit of data from your Facebook page and then deactivate your account. But even then, Facebook has already taken what information and data it wanted to collect and has it stored elsewhere. Once you share information with Facebook you can never take it back again.
Not so with MeWe! MeWe does not collect your data. Everything you ever posted or shared on MeWe is stored in your cloud at YOUR disposal. At any time you like you can download the content to save it offline and you can DELETE your MeWe account.
When you delete your account, everything from your cloud (and, as a result, everything you have shared to your profile page, chats, groups, etc) is ALL erased from the system! The only thing that does not get erased with your account are the comments that you make on other people’s posts, pictures, or content. Remember, comments don’t get stored in your cloud, and therefore don’t get erased when you delete your account.
16) Group Chats. When you are a part of a group on Facebook the closest you come to a “group discussion” is to have someone create a post and the different members of the group take turns commenting on the post. In MeWe group discussions are much easier to have since each group is given a “chat” space where members can interact actually hold a conversation.
The Owner of a group can turn off the chat feature if they would prefer not to use this particular feature in their group, but it is certainly nice to have the option, especially for groups that want to really interact and discuss topics of interest in more detail.
17) Group Entry Questions Are Automatically Required. On Facebook a person can still submit a request to join a group without having answered the entry questions set by the group Owner, but with MeWe when a group Owner sets the questions these questions are automatically required – anyone wanting to join the group HAS to answer the questions in order to send in their request to join. This feature CAN be turned off in the group settings if you don’t want the questions to be required, but as an Owner of a group it is certainly nice to have control of this and to have the option of making the questions required or not.
MeWe also gives the option of setting up to 4 entry questions, whereas Facebook only gives the option of 3 entry questions.
As a group member, the questions that you answered in order to enter the group are completely editable once you have been accepted into the group, so if you do not feel comfortable about your answers being seen by other members, or being kept on record, you can always delete them later or edit them if you would like.
18) Make Your Profile Unique for Each Group. Whenever you join a group on MeWe you have the option of setting a profile picture for that group that is different from your default profile picture. You also have the option of adding a personal note as a way to introduce yourself or share something specific with the group.
Note: Both the unique group profile and the introductory note are completely voluntary and optional! If you choose NOT to set a unique profile picture for a group then MeWe will automatically use your default profile picture.
19) More Management Tools for Group Owners. MeWe provides a lot of management tools and control options for the Owners of groups!
One of the unique management tools for MeWe group Owners is the added feature that
a group Owner can bring up the profile of any group member to see a complete list
of every post that member has made in the group, as well as re-
20) Files Can Only Be Uploaded, Not Created. MeWe currently does not have a way of creating files or “notes” directly on the database. This may change eventually, but for now you need to create files in another program and then upload them to MeWe.
21) MeWe Can Sort Files Into Folders. While you may not be able to create files directly in MeWe, you are able to create folders to make it easier to organize the files and keep them sorted and easier to find.
22) No “Pages” to Follow. MeWe does not give the option of creating “pages” that people can follow, but this is because the pages feature in Facebook often seems redundant in that you could easily just create a “group” that functions essentially the same way.
Note: Since writing this article MeWe HAS added an option to create pages, so if you really prefer to create a page that people can follow instead of a group, you can do that now!
23) No Games or Third-
For anyone who really enjoys the Facebook games this may come a disappointment when
you start using MeWe, but there is a reason for this difference. The games and apps
you have on Facebook all require Facebook to share your data with third-
Another reason why MeWe does not connect you to these third party games and apps
is because they try very hard to live up to their commitment of “to tracking”, “no
cookies”, “no spyware”, but a lot of the third-
GIVE FEEDBACK
Remember, MeWe is secure not perfect! If there’s something you don’t like, or a feature you wish was included, or you have any ideas of ways in which MeWe could improve your experience, feel free to give them feedback! Your comments, suggestions, feedback, and input, all help the MeWe team to know how they can better serve their members.
I’ve given a lot of feedback myself on a number of different topics. Personally, I feel like MeWe has a really great layout and a really great start at becoming an amazing social media network site – but there’s always room for improvement.
Of course, it’s important to recognize that some of what I feel needs “improving” could easily just be a result of my comparing it to Facebook and other sites that I am used to using. Whenever I start out with a new platform I try to accept the fact that some of the “biases” I bring with me will fade over time as I get more comfortable with the unique layout of “the new”. Still, other improvements may actually be genuine ways that this site could be improved, so I share the feedback and trust that the MeWe team will ultimately do what they feel is best for this social media platform while still staying true to their commitment to preserve my rights of security, privacy, and freedom of speech!
A WORD OF CAUTION
I just want to close this article with a word of caution that EVERYONE who uses the Internet should know and always keep in the forefront of their mind: Always be careful of what information you share online!
Even on sites that are “safe” and are careful not to share out your information, you still need to be wise online and extremely careful about what you are sharing and who you are interacting with.
You should be EXTREMELY cautious about accepting a contact requests from someone you don’t actually know, and VERY cautious about sharing personal information to a MeWe group that contains members you don’t know personally.
Never, under ANY circumstances, should you be sharing details regarding your current address, your phone number, the exact location where you are at a given time, or any information that could put you at risk in anyway!
MeWe does its best to protect the information you share and to make sure it doesn’t get out to anyone you didn’t intend for it to be shared with – but if YOU share content with people you don’t know, MeWe has no way of protecting you from that!
MeWe is committed to keeping the control of your content in YOUR hands, but that still means you need to be wise in what you share around and who you share information with. You are in control of your own security, so be cautious and be wise. The Internet is not a safe place in general, so be smart and play it safe!
Have Any Questions?
Check Out Our MeWe Frequently Asked Questions Page!
SOURCES
* A Message for Facebook Users: Do You Want Real Online Privacy?
* Honoring the Best of Social Media: MeWe Technology
* WeFunder – MeWe: The World’s Communication Network
* MeWe Raises $5.2 Million Series A Funding
* MeWe Frequently Asked Questions
* NBC News: A Timeline of Facebook’s Privacy Issues – and Its Responses
* Is Building a Facebook Alternative Worth the Effort? MeWe Thinks So!