Firstup (formerly Dynamic Signal & SocialChorus, merged in 2021) offers an Employee Communication and Engagement Platform that aims to create a connected, inclusive, and engaged workforce where people feel valued and empowered to be their best. Firstup can be used to generate UGC, enabling employees to share on-brand content with their social networks, and keep employees engaged with gamification (e.g. leaderboards, competitions, etc.), and through making their thoughts known through surveys…
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Signal
Score 9.2 out of 10
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Signal is an open source cross-platform messaging app featuring end-to-end encryption to keep conversations private and secure, boasting no ads, no affiliate marketers, and no creepy tracking in Signal. Users can focus on sharing the moments that matter.
Firstup is a well-suited solution for companies that would like to spread brand awareness and get employees to be their number one ambassadors. Employees like to share/brag about the company they work for so why not use them as a driving force in spreading brand awareness!
Signal is best when you want to keep a conversation confidential. The whole premise of Signal is privacy, based on keeping location, contents, and what's in the content private. By having the delete function and the time limit on messages, as well as auto-delete, messages that are seen are not left on the device longer than they need to be. It's not appropriate for simple regular chatting or sending files that need to be shared. That's not its strong suit. What is its strong suit is the peace of mind that your confidential conversations are meant to be kept that way.
Security - This is the main feature Signal is known for, and it's no joke. Signal's encrypted messaging is best in class and you can rest assured that it would be very difficult for a third party to intercept your messages.
Filesharing - You can share all manner of files and audiovisual content through Signal in a secure way.
Desktop/Mobile Sync - In order to sync your mobile installation of Signal to the desktop version, you have to use a QR Code, and do it every time you update. Old versions of Signal are no longer able to send or receive messages. This is a good and bad thing as it is a bit of a hassle, but it helps to add extra layers of security.
Message Drafts - A nice feature where you don't lose messages you are in the middle of writing.
Named Conversations - It's nice to be able to organize conversations
Temporary Messages - You can send messages that will be deleted after a certain time, or when read.
Video and Voice Chat - In addition to texting, Signal lets you make video and voice calls.
We'd love to see a calendar added that would show key upcoming dates.
It would be awesome if the Message feature had a drop-down directory you could scroll through vs. requiring you to type a few letters before the potential names came up.
I've never contacted support but I see that they are on the ball for bug fixes, highly communicative in release notes, and continually releasing updates to Signal that address common user complaints. Given how responsive the development team is, and how they are continually improving Signal, I think their support is top notch.
The closest competitor we've found for Signal is Telegram. We do use Telegram with some clients and individuals who prefer it. Unfortunately, in this climate where there is no clear winner and a lot of diversity in applications, if you work with a lot of clients you're going to have to install a whole suite of instant messaging apps. Still, given the choice, we prefer Signal over its competitors, specifically for applications where high security is a concern.
