Anti-Facebook MeWe continues its user growth surge

MeWe seems to be breaking the mould for social media platforms – and increasing its user base as people turn away from ad-riddled social media platforms.

The social media platform says it does not control your newsfeed, or fill your feed with third-party ads or content, and has grown almost 18 million members.

The platform has raised over $23 million from high-net-worth investors including Kelly Slater (top surfer), Rick Smith (former NFL executive), Verdine White (Grammy Award winner, Earth Wind and Fire bassist), Mark Britto (founder of Boku), Marci Shimoff (NYT author), Rachel Roy (fashion designer), and Jack Canfield (founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul).

MeWe's membership grew by a whopping 36% in Q1 2021 and by an average of 173% per year for the last three years.

The platform boasts that 50% of its traffic is outside of North America. Of course some of this US growth probably came from Amazon web hosting service dropping social network Parler as a customer in January along with Apple and Google bans of the app.

MeWe is available in 20 languages and was recently the #1 downloaded social app in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong users started to migrate to the platform from Facebook after concerns about the way Facebook operates in China. Vice reckons that Hong Kong has become a testing ground for an Anti-Facebook movement.

MeWe says that it is for 'authentic, real-life sharing'. Groups are a big thing on the platform -- although it can seem overwhelming if you subscribe to too many common interest groups.

You see your content in the correct timeline-ordered newsfeed meaning that you theoretically never miss a post from your groups and pages.

Any member can join and create communities based on their interests, and the content appears as it is intended to be. 

Members have control of their newsfeeds and can decide what kind of content they want to see.

Earlier this month, the company announced that it had appointed Hollywood/Tech exec Jeffrey Edell as its new CEO and joins its Board of Directors. Edell succeeds MeWe founder Mark Weinstein whose new role is Chief Evangelist.

Edell previously held Chairman, CEO, and other C-level roles at Intermix Media (NASDAQ), the parent of MySpace; Soundelux Entertainment Group/Liberty Media; Cinedigm (NASDAQ); and DIC Entertainment. He helped lead the sale of MySpace to NewsCorp for about $600 million.

Edell says: "People worldwide are migrating from Facebook, Instagram, and other major platforms to MeWe because it is the social network that respects its members as customers to serve and delight, not data to share, target, or manipulate.

"MeWe has achieved remarkable growth with zero paid marketing or member acquisition costs. I am thrilled to lead the company as we position for rapid growth by expanding our marketing efforts and product offerings, bringing on the world's most compelling content creators, and growing our team to welcome millions of new members in the months ahead."

Although MeWe offers a "free forever," or freemium business model, members can upgrade to MeWe Premium for $4.99 per month to get features such as video journals, voice/video calling, cloud storage custom themes, and custom emoji and sticker packs.

I reckon that more and more people are attracted to MeWe for brand pages because their content gets to all of their followers regardless of how often they post. On Facebook or Instagram content is throttled depending on how popular the user is.

A brand like Samsung with 48 million users on Facebook reaches a tiny fraction of these users with every post. Savvy brands like Slashdot, controversial influencers like osteopathic physician Dr. Joseph Mercola, and Fox News' Sean Hannity already use the MeWe platform.

Perhaps the growth in users will tail off as the platform reaches saturation but MeWe user growth shows no sign of slowing down right now. I like MeWe's simplicity, and lack of ads.

My feed can appear a little crowded sometimes if I haven't logged on for a few days, but pruning my feed for a while sorts that out.

I will certainly be watching MeWe with interest to see if it continues to grow.