Why WebRTC?

If the aim isn't to have fast real time communication (video, audio, file transfer, etc), why webrtc?

I can see a primary benefit in the future would be to have _private_ direct text conversations like socket p2p;


But for large conversations - or for big lists of online users - using webrtc to connect everyone is a lot of strain on individual browsers. It's also limited to 250 peer connections and requires a signalling server to 'introduce' users to each other - why not sockets for that and the online devices lists and then webrtc for private conversations with limited members.