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Almost everybody I know has at least 2 messaging apps installed on their phone. What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. on

Almost everybody I know has at least 2 messaging apps installed on their phone. What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads?

wilsonchaney 8y ago
Network effect. My anecdote - out of, say, 50 people I know, two have Telegram. The rest use a combination of iMessage, Facebook messenger, and WhatsApp. 22yo male.
- thanatropism 8y ago
  Telegram here has the reputation of a chat app you might use to hide naughty online liaisons from your wife. Like something indexed to an alternative identity. (So: like what the internet used to be like in olden times. But still.)
  - pmlnr 8y ago
    Huh. I used it with my wife - she was the only one willing to give it a try.
  - smoovb 8y ago
    Telegram is a hands-down better experience than whats app. I think it’s the first one to give the ability to edit messages after you sent them.
enitihas 8y ago
I think you are an outlier in that regard. Almost nobody I know is using any other messaging app instead of WhatsApp, and I just graduated out of University so my social circle consists of a lot of fresh engineering grads. It is hard for me to convince even my batchmates to install signal. I think people don't want to install anything else as none of their contacts are on any other platform.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  It really depends on where you live. If you're in say, India, then sure, what you've said is probably true. But it's certainly not true everywhere in the world.
- iamdave 8y ago
  Since we're sharing anecdotes as qualitative data points, my experience has been the exact opposite: every last one of my friends that were on WhatsApp have migrated to Signal. I followed them. We're all US based, with two exceptions in the UK.
- mfoy_ 8y ago
  I tried to get my friends who use WhatsApp to switch to Signal during the big Delete Facebook movement... I got a lot of pushback. It did not happen. :(
  - trumped 8y ago
    pushing people to change habits is hard...
- ksec 8y ago
  Where are you from? I think location and Culture makes a huge difference. Whatsapp wasnt even a thing in US before Facebook bought it. France was mainly iMessages ( transition from SMS ) before Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Then there are places like China which no one uses WhatsApp.
  - msaharia 8y ago
    WhatsApp has giant user bases in India, South America, and Africa.
    - omaranto 8y ago
      Here in Mexico too.
  - 8y ago
cam3ham 8y ago
the same reason people didnt switch off facebook when they started showing ads. Or instagram. Or Twitter. the network.
cloakedarbiter 8y ago
I have friends and family spanning four different countries (U.S. and southeast Asia), so I use WhatsApp, FB Messenger, GroupMe, and WeChat regularly.
- Markoff 8y ago
  in what country it's groupme popular?
mayankkaizen 8y ago
I can install (and have installed) as many chatting apps as possible. But what is the point? I mean I will have to use the app everyone else is using (which in my case is Whatsapp). Honestly speaking, I actually tried to ditch whatsapp but failed.
- yayana 8y ago
  > Honestly speaking, I actually tried to ditch whatsapp but failed. I found it hard to get people to switch to signal because there are no user visible benefits and it's a little less polished. But the first day Whatsapp puts in ads..
  - bodas 8y ago
    I doubt it, Signal is terrible. Extremely sterile user experience, almost the complete opposite of something like LINE. They need to make it more fun.
    - yayana 8y ago
      Yuck. Video calling and looking like the built-in apps is all that is wanted.
    - smoovb 8y ago
      Line is clearly the most fun - making most of their money from selling virtual stickers.
whatyoucantsay 8y ago
> What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads? Network effects.
lucideer 8y ago
My friends fall roughly into three groups: - People who have at least 4+ messenger apps installed (these are the tiniest minority, and we mostly chat on Riot.im) - FB Messenger users who only have Messenger installed (these are a dwindling minority—I communicate with them through the web interface or SMS) - Whatsapp users who only have WhatsApp installed (this is basically almost everyone)
tgsovlerkhgsel 8y ago
> What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads? The same thing that is currently forcing them to use more than one chat app, no matter which one they prefer: Network effect. If you can't convince all your friends to switch at once to one system, you'll be stuck between a rock (e.g. ad-infested/data-leaking WhatsApp) and a hard place (friends reaching out to you much less frequently because it's a PITA to reach you).
smoovb 8y ago
I have 12. No real switching cost. Telegram - Thought Leaders + productivity Slack - Biz stuff Line - Thai ppl WeChat - Chinese ppl Hangouts - school + free calls Viber - Old way to call WhatsApp - Late adopters Messeger - Sheeple Signal - Privacy people Keybase - Experimental iMessage - Grandmas and Moms Skype - backup plan Kin - Umm

Almost everybody I know has at least 2 messaging apps installed on their phone. What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads?

wilsonchaney 8y ago

Network effect. My anecdote - out of, say, 50 people I know, two have Telegram. The rest use a combination of iMessage, Facebook messenger, and WhatsApp. 22yo male.

thanatropism 8y ago
Telegram here has the reputation of a chat app you might use to hide naughty online liaisons from your wife. Like something indexed to an alternative identity. (So: like what the internet used to be like in olden times. But still.)
- pmlnr 8y ago
  Huh. I used it with my wife - she was the only one willing to give it a try.
- smoovb 8y ago
  Telegram is a hands-down better experience than whats app. I think it’s the first one to give the ability to edit messages after you sent them.

enitihas 8y ago

I think you are an outlier in that regard. Almost nobody I know is using any other messaging app instead of WhatsApp, and I just graduated out of University so my social circle consists of a lot of fresh engineering grads. It is hard for me to convince even my batchmates to install signal. I think people don't want to install anything else as none of their contacts are on any other platform.

saagarjha 8y ago
It really depends on where you live. If you're in say, India, then sure, what you've said is probably true. But it's certainly not true everywhere in the world.
iamdave 8y ago
Since we're sharing anecdotes as qualitative data points, my experience has been the exact opposite: every last one of my friends that were on WhatsApp have migrated to Signal. I followed them. We're all US based, with two exceptions in the UK.
mfoy_ 8y ago
I tried to get my friends who use WhatsApp to switch to Signal during the big Delete Facebook movement... I got a lot of pushback. It did not happen. :(
- trumped 8y ago
  pushing people to change habits is hard...
ksec 8y ago
Where are you from? I think location and Culture makes a huge difference. Whatsapp wasnt even a thing in US before Facebook bought it. France was mainly iMessages ( transition from SMS ) before Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Then there are places like China which no one uses WhatsApp.
- msaharia 8y ago
  WhatsApp has giant user bases in India, South America, and Africa.
  - omaranto 8y ago
    Here in Mexico too.
- 8y ago

cam3ham 8y ago

the same reason people didnt switch off facebook when they started showing ads. Or instagram. Or Twitter. the network.

cloakedarbiter 8y ago

I have friends and family spanning four different countries (U.S. and southeast Asia), so I use WhatsApp, FB Messenger, GroupMe, and WeChat regularly.

Markoff 8y ago
in what country it's groupme popular?

mayankkaizen 8y ago

I can install (and have installed) as many chatting apps as possible. But what is the point? I mean I will have to use the app everyone else is using (which in my case is Whatsapp). Honestly speaking, I actually tried to ditch whatsapp but failed.

yayana 8y ago
> Honestly speaking, I actually tried to ditch whatsapp but failed. I found it hard to get people to switch to signal because there are no user visible benefits and it's a little less polished. But the first day Whatsapp puts in ads..
- bodas 8y ago
  I doubt it, Signal is terrible. Extremely sterile user experience, almost the complete opposite of something like LINE. They need to make it more fun.
  - yayana 8y ago
    Yuck. Video calling and looking like the built-in apps is all that is wanted.
  - smoovb 8y ago
    Line is clearly the most fun - making most of their money from selling virtual stickers.

whatyoucantsay 8y ago

> What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads? Network effects.

lucideer 8y ago

My friends fall roughly into three groups: - People who have at least 4+ messenger apps installed (these are the tiniest minority, and we mostly chat on Riot.im) - FB Messenger users who only have Messenger installed (these are a dwindling minority—I communicate with them through the web interface or SMS) - Whatsapp users who only have WhatsApp installed (this is basically almost everyone)

tgsovlerkhgsel 8y ago

> What's to stop people start migrating to Signal/Telegram/Viber/Keybase/etc.. once WhatsApp starts displaying ads? The same thing that is currently forcing them to use more than one chat app, no matter which one they prefer: Network effect. If you can't convince all your friends to switch at once to one system, you'll be stuck between a rock (e.g. ad-infested/data-leaking WhatsApp) and a hard place (friends reaching out to you much less frequently because it's a PITA to reach you).

smoovb 8y ago

I have 12. No real switching cost. Telegram - Thought Leaders + productivity Slack - Biz stuff Line - Thai ppl WeChat - Chinese ppl Hangouts - school + free calls Viber - Old way to call WhatsApp - Late adopters Messeger - Sheeple Signal - Privacy people Keybase - Experimental iMessage - Grandmas and Moms Skype - backup plan Kin - Umm