Have you considered the alternative?

Aside from the discussion the article is also accompanied by two more practical guides on how to set-up a modern XMPP server and how to pick non-horrible clients:

http://homebrewserver.club/configuring-a-modern-xmpp-server....

http://homebrewserver.club/picking-modern-xmpp-clients.html

This article provides a discussion of the incentive models of different chat systems (WhatsApp / Facebook, Signal, XMPP). It also compares centralized and federated approaches, their threat model and how future-proof they are.