Mozi, a social media app for people who don’t want a social media app

Many people have tried to replace Twitter/Xbut only a handful of new social media apps have gained traction, especially Number of execution threads and blue sky.

But instead of trying to replace those apps, a new app created by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams does one of the things I value most about social media and nothing else…

williams says The problem with social media is that it gradually abandons the “community” part.

When Facebook is ubiquitous, it may well reflect many people’s real-life relationships. It tells you where they live, who you know, and various other details [but] Social networking became “social media,” which originally meant receiving content from people of your choosing.

But in order to maximize engagement, the timelines of friends and people you choose to follow become a free-for-all for your attention. Turns out, your friends aren’t (God forbid) that interesting to most people influential person They spend every waking moment creating “content.”

In other words, social media has become…media.

I can understand this. I reluctantly joined Facebook A long time ago, because a social group I belong to started organizing meetups on this platform. Initially, I was very conservative about adding Facebook friends, limiting them to real-life friends. But I was soon forced to abandon the process as it grew to become the best/only way to understand what was going on in some of my interest groups. Today, I am Facebook friends with people I have never met or acquaintances I say hello to every year.

But one aspect I really like is the way it facilitates real-life gatherings. There have been countless times where I’ve posted about a trip I was going on, only to have a friend message me saying they were there too and would I like to meet up? Vice versa when I discover their posts. This allows people to dine with friends from as far away as Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Dubai and Tokyo.

This is what Mozi is all about.

Mozi’s main value proposition (today) is simple: it lets you know when you’re going to be in the same place (city or event) with someone you know. The goal is simple: connect more often—and personally–Spend time with people you care about.

For example, I just got back from Miami. Before going, I put my plan (just the city and the date) into Mozi. This information is only shared with my contacts (minus any information I don’t want). So even before departure I was able to meet people I knew who lived there and other friends who were visiting at the same time so we could meet and make plans.

That’s it. No posts, no photos, just real life locations and plans.

The app is very privacy-focused. Although you share contact information to get to know the people you meet on Mozi, this information is encrypted and will never be used by the company for any other purpose. Only mutual contacts can view your location/scheduled location.

So far, Mozi has only had a trial run with a limited audience, so it’s no surprise to me that my contacts aren’t using it yet. But unlike Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon, where all I did was claim my username and then never use them again, I actually had Mozi installed.

We’ll just have to see if it solves the Catch-22 problem of no one using new social media apps because no one is using the app.

Mozi iOS only Currently, only Apple login is supported.

Image: Mozi