TL:DR; The new social network Minds already has more than 1M followers. In the near future it will probably give a hard blow to the 3 most important social networks that exist today, as the possibility of monetisation of their content and the valuation of privacy is becoming more and more important for users.
Have you ever wanted to have both Twitter, Reddit and Facebook in one place? It seems that 1.25 million people have also wished it, and a new social network has appeared that seems to soon put the giants in a tizzy.
Minds has three main objectives that none of the others follow: transparency, privacy and security. However, it is just as easy to use as the other three. At first glance, this new social network includes the most popular actions from Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
With Facebook’s format, Twitter’s tools and Reddit-like content, Minds leaves no one indifferent. You don’t need to create a profile with your real name or anything like that. In the Twitter style, you can be followed by all your friends, acquaintances or people who are interested in your posts. At the same time you will be able to share the posts you like the most with your followers. You will be able to follow interesting topics for you, like on Reddit. And all this on a page very similar to Facebook.
But why leave 3 platforms to join 1 new one? Well, the main difference is that Minds does not benefit from the data of its users, like Facebook but in reverse. In addition, it aims to encrypt your messages, providing maximum privacy to its users. Nor does it track anything about you. All this you can corroborate with its open source code that you can find at its Gitlab.
As for the company’s economy, you can buy its token which is currently worth 1TKN = 0.0060 ETH = 6.5€, with it you can support the channels you like the most (through tips), unlock premium features, upgrade from Pro to Plus account, and most importantly, launch advertising campaigns to expand your reach, if you are a content creator it is very profitable, since 1 token is equivalent to 1000 views of your network.
With 4 tokens, you can unlock exclusive content such as videos, blogs and photos from independent artists. With each view of the content through Minds Plus, the creator earns an income. In addition, with this service you protect your content from censorship and the possibility of demonetisation.
This social network is fully operational and even has apps for Android and iOS and even has its own cryptocurrency, which can be earned by creating popular content, by tips, by receiving engagement or by recommending Minds to your friends. The aim of Minds is to create a space where you can earn money without losing an ounce of privacy.
However, although the idea is very innovative, there are still some (too many) bugs to fix, for example, failures in downloading images or videos, even sometimes the application restarts automatically or simply crashes when registering.
Another problem they have is that although they defend the 1st amendment (free speech) there is the possibility that this social network becomes zone 0 for extremist posts and comments. I think a little censorship is never a bad thing in this kind of movement.
I hope that one day we can unseat all those companies that have endless terms and conditions that are only famous for the number of users. I assure you that with time people will realise that multinationals like Facebook live thanks to us, to our data, and that the time will come when they will demand something from us that we will not be willing to accept.
If you are reading this post and have made it this far, I assume that you are interested in privacy, which is why you have a prize. I recommend you take a look at the following services that, like Minds, are all about your privacy.
Google Drive? Dropbox? Any Cloud? Nah… I recommend you take a look at Internxt, a decentralised European cloud storage that offers maximum privacy to its customers through the use of Blockchain technology and end-to-end encryption. For now they have cloud storage up and running, however, Internxt Photos, Send, Teams and Mail will be released during 2021.
Google? Bing? Wouldn’t you prefer not to have to accept cookies all the time? Or not to feel like they are listening to everything you say? I highly recommend that at least the most private searches you have, you search on DuckDuckGo.
Maps… No online map can offer you the privacy and zero-tracking of a physical map… However, thanks to OpenStreetMaps, you can locate yourself without leaving a trace online. No one will be able to find out where you have been by looking at your OpenStreetMaps history.
I hope that soon more and more people will realise that if we lock our doors to protect our privacy, but post on social networks that commercialise our data, we can never have peace of mind. It’s living in a continuous Big Brother and not earning €1.
