In my local community, we have a WhatsApp group for mutual help and services / goods exchange, the rule is no money, so it’s mostly populated by leftists more or less open to understand the problematics of internet privacy (for context). There are a bit more than 350 persons.
Today, someone sent a message telling everybody that he’s leaving Meta products for good, thus this group. A few other persons complained about meta, then I suggested that we could all leave WhatsApp and go on Signal and I briefly explained the network effect by saying that if no one uses signal because nobody is on it, then no one will ever use it if nobody takes the first step.
And this argument worked because an admin just created a signal group! More than 50 persons already switched!
Obviously the WhatsApp group will not be abandoned right away, but it has been decided that both groups will be used for now, then we’ll see at the end of the year which group we abandon.
I really see hope in that kind of events, because if I managed to make more than 50 people switch, a portion of them will do the same for their other groups and family / friends.
I plan on hosting little conferences with this group on the libre culture and the attention economics, so hopefully I’ll convince all of them that it’s the right thing to do!
Great job, it starts with us. If you want it done then do it. 🙂
I think that’s great, well done.
One thing which I’m curious about is that now Signal is proposing itself as a zoom replacement with call links and the ability to share a username rather than a phone number. This makes it interesting in a work setting, given that there is a desktop app too.
However, I have a possibly unique gripe with it: how do I manage my personal vs professional profile picture? Currently I have a profile picture which I’m using mostly for friends and family. But that is not ideal for a professional setting. And them maybe I’d like to join some online communities more anonymously. I don’t want to use the same profile picture for all 3 settings. I wish Signal would make it easier to manage the profile picture selectively and more granularly.
Anyone else within them same position?
I think you should have 3 profiles for 3 settings, imo a personal phone number should not be used in a professional setting.
Unfortunately Signal doesn’t allow to create account without phone number, but there are other alternatives that should work in a professional setting.
I don’t think they will implement multi account support anytime soon. Right now Signal focus on private chats (i.e. family ones). For big work group chats like those found on whatsapp and telegram I feel like matrix is a better alternative, but yeah it’s not ready yet since it lacks the call features discord has.
I feel like matrix is a better alternative, but yeah it’s not ready yet since it lacks the call features discord has.
I haven’t used Discord in years. What call features are you referring to?
Multiple people group calls with optional webcam and screensharing as well as the asymmetric conferences where there is a main speaker and people can request right to speak. Additionally Discord allows for multiple voice channels so you can have multiple such calls in parallel.
Basically the same features you have in teams, zoom, skype, etc. but I hate all of them. I wish I could find some open source alternative that is decent/known, matrix should implement those imo
I believe Matrix has this in beta, sometimes referred to as MatrixRTC or Element Call.
Edit: Recent status update here:
https://matrix.org/blog/2024/10/29/matrix-2.0-is-here/#3-native-matrix-group-voip-video-matrixrtc
Yeah! One of my issues with Signal is how clunky it is to have several profiles - something I cannot imagine living without. Not only would you need separate phone numbers, but you’d also need separate clients (or separate profiles with the same app on mobile, or different users on desktop).
Once it gets a little bit more development work, you might have a look at SimpleX because it is stupid easy to do profiles on there, but at current it is not good for group calls. It does do group messages just fine, but the column functionality is not fully there yet.
SimpleX absolutely destroys battery life on older devices. Had to disable it.
I’m in one group of like 1,500 members and I’ve noticed it takes about 7% battery which compared to signal is a lot for certain but it’s not horrible. I use lineage OS with no Google Play Services, and I find that Google Play Services still ate more battery than SimpleX does.
What of the alternatives like Matrix or XMPP? I haven’t explored these well yet, is it easy to have multiple profiles with those?
The clients I tried for Matrix had similar trouble with multiacc, yeah. However, my XMPP clients do have a tab with accounts you can toggle on and off.
And yet again i feel like XMPP is the way to go, but depends on setting up a server and managing it, i for one don’t feel like managing servers in my free time, i do that at work all day 😅
If it’s a personal server, XMPP actually pretty botherless) Matrix did randomly break for me, though.
The “distro” I’ve been eyeing is Snikket since it’s all in one with batteries included, it’s only notorious lack is bridges which is the reason i didn’t jump into it right away when i saw it (LOTS of contacts on WhatsApp, some on other Zuckerberg properties, so will likely need to do it, let’s see if the recent EU legislation leads to force them into interoperativity)
Haven’t tried Snikket, but tried the software it is based on (Prosody). Works very well and is easy to set up, and heard good things about Snikket! If you go through - good luck with it)
I use a “work profile” on my android phone to install another instance of Signal. I registered it with an internet phone number. Not an ideal solution, but does what I need.
I really wish Signal would have a “Pro” version. I would pay for that, but as it stands, there are many features missing which are needed in a business setting.
It’s great tech, but focused on the consumer space.
Usually when I propose these things IRL I’m met with laughter and “who cares?”. I don’t even try anymore.
I was lucky to successfully move my girlfriend, two friend group chats and my family ones so 14 people 😁 They still use other messengers but at least they use Signal on a daily basis
Oh yeah, if it’s 1-1 personal stuff I tell them to message me on Signal and I don’t reply to anything else.
Hoping it goes well for ya. I’ve been in 1,000+ people Signal groups and it’s so laggy.
Anyone have tips on how to find local mutual aid groups? The only one that I am currently a part of is a buy nothing group on… Facebook.
Mine originated from the coordinators of the local third place (I’m in a very rural setting), don’t know if this kind of initiative exist in cities
Online search? That’s how I first got plugged into some here. Many of them maintain presence on FB, IG etc as a pragmatic matter of outreach, but organize themselves over Signal and offline.
That’s awesome! I’m in a bunch of local Signal groups for my community. I’m about to move away though, and already anticipating a struggle to build the same type of culture where I’m headed.
