New app Mozi hopes to tempt users away from established services with a focus on real connections.
In a digital landscape dominated by engagement metrics and infinite scrolls, Twitter co-founder Evan “Ev” Williams is preparing to showcase a new social media app at this year’s SXSW in Austin.
Mozi, a private social network focused on facilitating real-world instead of online connections, will debut at the conference — which begins Friday — the same event where Twitter made its breakthrough in 2007.
The app, which soft-launched months ago, ditches public profiles and follower counts and represents Williams’ vision for what social technology should actually be: “What we used to call social apps really don’t do that,” Williams told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “That’s not how they’ve evolved. They’re media and entertainment.”
Mozi has raised $6 million in venture funding from investors including Williams’ fund Obvious Ventures, alongside notable social networking entrepreneurs like Path co-founder Dave Morin, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley and Alex Hofmann, who co-founded Musical.ly (now TikTok).
Personal Connections In A Digital Age
The birth of Mozi came from Williams’ own realization about his social connections as he approached a milestone birthday: “I didn’t have a robust set of friendships I felt great about given my stage in life,” Williams explained to Bloomberg, describing the moment when planning his 50th birthday party. This personal insight led him to envision a platform that prioritizes meaningful relationships over engagement metrics.
Mozi alerts users when their contacts are in the same city and shows which acquaintances are attending nearby events. The platform’s newest feature, Local Plans, lets users share their event attendance, while others in their contact list can see these plans and join if interested.
This pivot toward facilitating real-world connections marks a significant departure from Williams’ previous ventures, which include not only Twitter, but also Blogger and Medium — platforms designed for sharing ideas through written content.
Williams has assembled a team of approximately 12 employees, with Molly DeWolf Swenson serving as CEO. Their collaboration began after a chance meeting at a holiday party in San Francisco in late 2022, embodying the very type of in-person connection their platform aims to facilitate.
“I love the idea of Mozi being one of these things that you can go to with this instinct to connect and actually fulfill that instinct,” Swenson told Bloomberg, contrasting it with platforms like Instagram that she describes as entertaining but primarily focused on content consumption rather than genuine connection.
Challenging The Social Media Status Quo
The addictive nature of many social media apps and algorithms will prove to be a challenge.
Mozi enters a challenging marketplace dominated by established players like Meta and X with billions of users. However, its approach represents a potential shift in how we think about digital social interactions.
Williams has previously criticized features common to mainstream social platforms — likes, comments and public follower counts — as “unhealthy.” Mozi’s deliberate avoidance of these engagement mechanisms signals an attempt to reorient social technology toward genuine connections, rather than mere content consumption.
“In the quest to maximize engagement, the timeline of friends and people you picked to follow turned into a free-for-all battle for attention,” Williams wrote in a blog post introducing Mozi. “And it turns out, for most people, your friends aren’t as entertaining as (god forbid) influencers who spend their waking hours making ‘content’ … In other words, social media became … media.”
For social media giants like Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, Mozi represents a philosophical challenge rather than an immediate competitive threat. Its focus on private, real-world connections contrasts sharply with the attention economy that has driven these platforms’ business models. While currently free, Mozi may eventually monetize through premium features or brand and event partnerships, according to Swenson.
As digital wellness concerns continue to rise, with increasing attention on screen time and social media’s psychological impacts, Mozi’s approach could signal an emerging trend in how social technology evolves.
The question remains whether users — accustomed to the seemingly incessant dopamine hits of likes and comments — will embrace a platform designed to ultimately encourage them to get off their phones.
This article was originally published by a www.forbes.com . Read the Original article here. .