Article source: keela.co.za
South African-born Pastor and Information Technology expert, Brenton Phillips, is set to launch Squirrel on 24th July, 2020. Squirrel is the new social media network, unmanipulated and completely free from data-mining, advertising and censorship. Squirrel is built for individuals and organisations, and will never sell a user’s data.
With Squirrel being years in development, Phillips has researched consumer behaviour and preference when choosing social media platforms. “Since the advent of social media, we’ve loved it and have been totally on board. I believe by fixing the broken parts of the social sphere, we can turn social media into what it was originally intended to be: to keep us deeply connected with those who matter most to us, making us more social with less distractions. We live in a time of shorter attention spans, increased depression, and a loss of deep relationships. Squirrel was created to rebuild those connections,” says Phillips.
Phillips believes the dominant concern is that, as long as advertising dollars fund social media, social media will be built to serve advertisers. His objective is to educate people on exactly what it means when a platform mines your data. He explains, “On platforms funded by advertising, each person or organisation is there to be sold to. Ads themselves are only the tip of the iceberg as far as the issue is concerned. It is all the information collected about an individual that should make our skin crawl. ‘Free’ social media platforms collect data about your every movement. Every posted detail of our lives becomes a product, called consumer data. The platform can then sell your data to commercial as well as political advertisers. Along with this issue, there is a growing censorship of Christian content. Christian content is being removed from networks and users are helpless to stop it. The majority of social media is filled with uncontrollable garbage, fake news and manipulation that we as adults and our children are exposed to. Since we don’t have a way to defend ourselves, other than quitting completely, it is time to take ‘the garbage out’.”
Squirrel is designed for real engagement. A person using Squirrel with 200 friends will have up to 80% more quality interactions on a post than someone with 2,000 friends on current social platforms. Squirrel automatically pulls photos and videos from the streams of your connections in order to catch up on posts quickly and easily. What makes Squirrel unique is that it is an invite-only system via an existing member with a unique access code. “By doing this and having credit-card authentication, we believe this will eliminate online trolling, fake accounts and users with ill-intentions from entering the platform,” says Phillips.
Initially Phillips created a secure, user-friendly communications platform for missionaries in remote areas to remain connected to their family and friends, as well as for his church and their multiple locations. This success became the groundwork for Squirrel. Another unique addition includes access to online counsellors, a good News Channel as well as a parent drop-in option for members under the age of 18. Messages are encrypted so that third party networks, hosts or internet providers do not have a means to eavesdrop, making Squirrel the perfect option for those who rely on data security.
Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning singer-songwriter Neville D is the first South African artist to sign up for the Squirrel organisation/community page. “Squirrel is what social media was meant to be. It will allow me to connect with my community in a real, authentic and meaningful way,” says Neville D.
Squirrel is free to try for the first 30 days. Because Squirrel contains no adverts, and won’t sell a member’s data, the platform relies on a user subscription of only R35 per month, or R100 for the family plan of up to 5 members. “I’ve subsidised 50% of the fee for anyone in South Africa. I’m proud of my roots and am believing that, as increasing numbers of South Africans adopt the platform, we will in time create more jobs within the country,” concludes Phillips.
To become a first adopter, visit isquirrel.com to sign up and put in the invite code: WZ5D2
About Brenton Phillips:
Brenton Phillips was born in South Africa, and currently resides in Houston, Texas. He is the founder and lead Pastor of Sandbox Church that has 6 campuses across the State. Brenton is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and Co-Founder of 2nd.MD, that provides face-to-face online video or phone consultations with expert medical specialists for medical second opinions, which currently has 10 million members. Brenton is also the founder of Astonishing Technology, which has developed Squirrel, the new social media network that is completely free from data-mining, censorship, advertising and manipulation.
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Date published: 08/07/2020
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