Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge, I’m trying not to lose my head. It’s like a jungle, sometimes I wonder how I keep from going under. Not my words but the words of ’80s hip-hop god Grand Master Flash in his hit song ‘The Message’. At the song’s inception in 1982, it was the first prominent hip-hop song to provide social commentary: they talked about class injustices, race and governmental hypocrisy. I wonder if the lyrics were written in today’s modern setting if they would include our new world problems such as the plethora of different social media channels zombifying an entire generation, privacy invasions and terrifyingly accurate targeted advertising. SOMA Messenger claims to be the world’s fastest HD video, voice and messaging app available that uses highly encrypted software so that your private messaging remains so. Will GMF herald it as the white horse saviour of the 21st century? Only time will tell.
At the moment SOMA (Simple Optimised Messaging App) is completely free and claims to remain so. Born from the brain child of The Harvard Innovation Lab, the team from Instanza (creators of SOMA) say that they want to revolutionise the messaging world by creating an effective and secure service that will be available globally. To do this they’ve strategically placed servers all over the world so that you can have a fast and reliable service anywhere by simply connecting to 3G.
Currently, SOMA is the only app that offers group chats of up to 500 people. That’s immense when you think of the applications. Imagine being able to connect an entire faculty of a university, a whole international business or even connecting a hospital. The interface is smooth and easy to navigate and the speed of the delivery certainly lives up to their bold claim as far as me and my bunch of online cronies could tell.
Some people are asking how the app plans to monetise itself and with good reason. Although the company claims that they will never use intrusive ads or sell your data and that their first priority is to “create an unparalleled user experience that is secure, safe and private” it does beg the question of how on earth they plan to make any money. I’d say the smart bet would be them going Zuckerberg-style and after creating something so intrinsic to human existence they float the company and the highest bidder can then do what they will, but this is mere speculation, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Don’t lose your head, instead take it over to the App Store to download it for free today!
