Is the idea of privacy on a "social network" an oxymoron? It could seem so, but it really isn't - especially when you realize that when people talk about "privacy", they're really talking about "control". And it's the concept of users controlling their privacy that has been taken away by the major social media platforms, from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok.
Why?
Because those platforms have business models centered on advertising, so they want to maximize activity on their networks.
Because they want to maximize activity, they want everything that you do on the network to be visible to as many people as possible.
Because they want your activity to be visible to as many people as possible, they make it near impossible to control who'll see your content via simple privacy controls.
This is how we ended up in a place where parents can't post pictures of their kids online, where dogpiling became a global sport, where normal people are afraid of going viral.
It doesn't have to be this way.
A social network where you stay in control
At Sunslider, it starts with a different philosophy and a different business model: we aren't selling ads, so we don't need to maximize your time on the app. We want you to share what you want, with the people you want, period. If that means you spend 5 minutes per day on the app (or per week! or per month! whatever!), that's great - less time on an app means more time for doing other stuff. We're building a social network that lets you be social, rather than trapping you in an endless scroll.
With that in place, we can think about privacy in a fundamentally different way.
First, we started with the idea of keeping it simple. You shouldn't have to run to google to try to figure out how to properly calibrate your settings. On Sunslider, your default slide and story privacy is right at the top of your settings, easily accessible and understandable.
Next, we wanted to make sure you have complete control over each piece of content that you post. Just because you typically want your slides to be "Followers only" doesn't mean that you don't want to post a beautiful landscape shot for "Everyone" or a picture of you swimming with your kids to "Mutuals only". So each upload is accompanied by a privacy selector, which starts on your "default" level and can be changed with just one click.
These choices are then carried over throughout the app. For example, someone who comes across your profile for the first time will ONLY see the slides you've marked as "Everyone". If they decide to follow you, they'll be able to see the slides you've marked as "Followers". And only if you choose to follow them back will they be able to see the slides you've marked as "Mutuals".
Sharing with people outside the app
Our new "share" mechanism (available in v1.4!) that lets you share posts via URL works the same way. When someone views your slide, the only way they can share it with anyone else is if it's already marked as "Everyone". If it's marked as "Followers" or "Mutuals", well, the "share" button simply isn't available.
But! For your own content, the "share" button is always available - no matter what level of privacy you've set for the slide - because you're the one who's in control. And if you want it to be "Mutuals" on the app, but then also want to send it to your parents who aren't on Sunslider, you should be able to do that.
This is the kind of granular privacy control that the social media giants don't want you to have. And it's the kind of thinking that we'll always fight for, by making sure we can stay independent, not dependent on advertisers or traditional venture capital.
So grab v1.4 for iOS, and send it to your friends 🤗
Oh, and another piece of good news: We're currently beta testing v2.0 that will also be compatible with Android!
If you want to be a beta tester, just reach out to support [at] sunslider.social ;)