Newssocial media, Airchat, Technology News
Apr 18, 2024 10:44 PM EDT
Social media is broken. We all know this.
At this year's Eth-Denver I was introduced to the app that will fix it.
It has nothing to do with crypto (many apps don't at Eth-Denver; heck, I saw an electric motorcycle launched), but this year's event brought me face-to-face with Airchat, thanks to dev Arjun Khemani. Arjun explained to me Naval Ravikant's latest brainchild - a social media app called Airchat that captures your voice, morphs it into text, and broadcasts it, letting listeners grasp the human behind the screen.
Today was the day I would spill about my month with Airchat... until I realized every other major news outlet also did that today.
Life is suffering... when you procrastinate.
Now, I know what you're thinking. It's similar to what my petulant 16-year-old sister said when I told her about Airchat last month: "Wow, another random feature turned into a platform."
In a way, she's right!
Clubhouse was a group chat. Threads: Tweets but less toxic. X: Tweets but more toxic. TikTok: Short videos. Snapchat: Quirky picture sharing (& nudes)
So why do we need Airchat? Why a platform that does what Twitter does but adds voice? This is why:
Now I've experimented with two iterations of Airchat.
It's like they're from different planets.
Version I had in March (left) that acted more like a podcast clip that anyone could comment on and the newest version (right) which is more like voice support + Threads
The magic of both Airchat versions is this: No algorithms. That's right - zero, zilch. And yet, giants like Bloomberg and Forbes barely mention it. Maybe they didn't test it enough. It's crazy to me!
On Airchat, your feed is pure - your timeline is only from those you follow. If an outsider comments, it stays hidden from your followers unless you like it or decide to reply to it.
It's geared to be the most customizable social media app ever.
As Naval said of Substack...
"Look how Substack is taking over blogging with one simple little feature: monetization and keeping it simple."
- Naval Ravikant
I'd argue Medium does the same. But with Airchat, Naval is keeping it old school like the days of Usenet. I bet you kids don't even know what that is.
Usenet created pretty much all of the internet lingo we use, like "btw, rofl, FYI, SO," and even :)
Airchat is sacrificing virality - but it has it in other ways - for a traditional atavistic algorithm we saw in the pre-internet days.
The algorithm will not work for you. You will have to search.
A month into Airchat my business philosophy's taken a leap, my social media habits are better, and my circle's richer with incredible erudite minds.
It's the raw authenticity of Airchat that makes the difference.
This could change. Airchat is very young. Yet, I wanted to give you 5 lessons Airchat taught me over the last month:
"Figure out what you what you want, figure out what the price is, and pay it."
Airchat reminds me of Medium or the early days of Twitter.
There's a lot of wisdom, no toxicity (for now, of course), and every thread is full of people trying to make their best impression.
Unlike LinkedIn, where everything feels so fake and using it for even a second instantly sends a 500lb 80mm diameter titanium bolt of depression through my brain and I lock up and can't do anything, Airchat doesn't do this. LOL
I heard this one from Naval:
"Classic social media allows you to quickly curate yourself into a filter bubble where it's only content from people who agree with you, and so you end up with a very one-sided view of the world, a very extreme view."
It's not that the center is right; it's often wrong. But it does help you to understand another situation. It reminded me of living in Oklahoma in my 20s despite being raised in NYC. I love that period of my life.
Airchat helps you get out of your bubble by encouraging you to speak about your experiences (+ there's the empathy and accountability of voice).
No, we're not.
Witnessing an exchange between Naval and Airchat co-founder Brian Nograd on Airchat left me nonplussed. Brian shared a grim financial forecast - been down that road myself, so no finger-pointing - and the community engaged with level-headed counterpoints, suggesting things might not be as dire.
The kind of panic on Twitter comes and goes. Airchat isn't a circlejerk of one set of ideas, there's a lot of discussion from all sides.
Naval is a big-time crypto investor. But he's not delusional.
To him, investing in Bitcoin is only one financial escape valve; others include investing in stocks, real estate, oil or hedges against inflation.
I listened to this one on Airchat before I posted this.
Ryan Hoover spoke it to the platform: "Voice works because it holds us all accountable and helps you empathize."
And unlike Clubhouse, where voice chat failed, Airchat is less impulsive because you are posting your voice message. That's why libel is more serious an offense than slander. What you say in a conversation is less serious than what you think, premeditate, and ultimately post.
Unfortunately, Airchat is "invite only" as it stands.
But I can be bribed to let you on for 200 bitcoins. Any offers...you in the back?
Airchat is what I wanted Threads to be: familiar yet better where it counted. It's a social media platform where you feel like your time spent actually matters - whether that's to laugh, learn, or entertain yourself.
It will be the next big thing. I'm happy to be on it.
.