3 ms·

Compelled to use FB Messenger when WhatsApp is available? I don't think there are many people who have FB, but not WhatsApp.

• scottmf 9y ago
  Facebook owns WhatsApp.
  • gkya 9y ago
    Certainly but WhatsApp is rather privacy-friendly.
    • zwily 9y ago
      What makes you say this? How do you know what Facebook is doing with the whatsapp data?
      • gkya 9y ago
        If WhatsApp is not lying about end-to-end encryption, FB don't have the data.
        • scottmf 9y ago
          There’s plenty of useful data besides the content of messages.
• bmarquez 9y ago
  I find WhatsApp is ubiquitous among my international friends, but my American friends who joined Facebook in college don't have it. Anecdotal data, of course.
• aianus 9y ago
  You know the phone numbers of all of your FB contacts? Getting someone's phone number has always felt like a much higher bar than their FB since you could harass them with calls, SMS, etc and it's more difficult to block. Plus there's an implicit sexual connotation if you ask a woman for her phone number that doesn't apply to Facebook or LinkedIn. I really don't like how WhatsApp piggybacks on phone numbers and phone contacts but clearly I'm in a tiny minority given how successful they've become.
  • gkya 9y ago
    > You know the phone numbers of all of your FB contacts? I don't have a Facebook account. > Getting someone's phone number has always felt like a much higher bar than their FB since you could harass them with calls, SMS, etc and it's more difficult to block. It's quite easy to block a number. If they'll go as far as to use a different phone to call you, then they could also use someone else's FB account too. > Plus there's an implicit sexual connotation if you ask a woman for her phone number that doesn't apply to Facebook or LinkedIn. That's probably something specific to your culture or a misconception on your part. I don't see how the two actions are different when in the same context, except friending someone on FB means you let them not only try communicate you, but observe a certain period of your past and see pictures/videos/posts of yours. I can't see how that's not more demanding in terms of privacy than asking for someone's phone number. I'd ideally go for an e-mail address instead of both of them, but well...