> Is OTR really a practical option? You message seems unclear about it.

It depends on your threat model, like other alternatives.

I have never initiated an OTR session myself, but I have received one from a contact in anger (whistleblowing).

> Also, how do you get all your contacts to use XMPP

In my case, I have been using XMPP for the last sixteen years, so my contacts have "grown organically", to use an en vogue marketing term.

It appears that Mac computers come with an XMPP client preinstalled (and possibly pre-configured?) Linux, the same. Android, there are a number of clients available. Windows, I think there is Gajim, ...

As far as a stereotypical common user is concerned, they are quite happy to install whatever applications their peers are using, which is how they end up with so much cruft on their computers, phones, etc. :-)

> and your server?

Nobody needs to use my server. It is like email, you can use whichever provider you like.

I hope this answers your questions!

Yes, it is.

Convince them :-) Same as with any other.