How to bring people to XMPP

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Proprietary and centralized platforms currently dominate the instant messaging world. A lot of people prefer to use these platforms rather than XMPP. If we care about wresting back control of our communications, it is imperative that we fix this.

It basically boils to this - use XMPP for everything.

Do as many of the following as possible -

1. Minimize the value you create for other platforms, by…
   1. Making yourself harder to reach there, e.g. checking them less often than XMPP, replying on them less quickly than XMPP, etc.
   2. Minimizing your activity on them, e.g. using them only to invite others to XMPP.
   3. Quitting them entirely.
2. Increase the value you create for XMPP, by…
   1. Making XMPP your primary means of communication.
   2. Actively participating in XMPP communities.
   3. Informing people that you prefer to be contacted over XMPP. If asked, tell them why.
   4. Helping onboard friends, family, colleagues, students, etc to XMPP. If necessary, introduce them to mutual contacts, and channels they may be interested in.
      • Don't tell them to "use XMPP" - tell them to "install Quicksy [from the Play Store/App Store]". That takes care of selecting a client and a server in one go, while also providing contact discovery and easy password recovery. Tell them about alternative clients and "XMPP" (the underlying protocol) later.
   5. Moving existing communities, teams, companies, etc to XMPP.
   6. Choosing XMPP as the primary chat for new communities, teams, companies, etc.
3. Tell others to engage in the same steps above.

This kind of advocacy is an easy way to contribute to freedom-respecting software and privacy-respecting technologies, without requiring the skills of a programmer, translator, or designer. ¹¹ Of course, XMPP clients are also - like most FOSS projects - in need of developers, translators, and designers.

The suggestions above come from experience - they are proven to work, provided you possess the necessary spine and steadfastness. Here's how I've applied these measures personally.

• I'm not on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, or Discord, so if people want to talk to me they have to use XMPP…or fall back to SMS and email, which are very limiting.
• When I first joined, many channels of my interest were missing. I made 9 of the channels I listed above, publicized them so people would join them, talked to channel participants to increase activity, and minimized my participation in IRC and Matrix. (Most of my activity on IRC these days is aimed at encouraging people to try and move to XMPP.)
• As a frequent organizer of OpenStreetMap mapping parties, I onboarded many people to XMPP, and made the OSM India XMPP channel. I announce these parties in XMPP channels multiple weeks in advance; in channels bridged to (proprietary) Telegram or (unsustainable) Matrix, I announce them one week before the party…and I make sure to tell them to join the XMPP channel to get informed sooner 🙂
• I've been part of efforts to spread awareness of XMPP at local FOSS conferences.

The more people who use and promote XMPP exclusively, the sooner we get a world where freedom-respecting, privacy-conscious, federated, and sustainable communication becomes the norm.