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Agree. I've heard WhatsApp usage worldwide is huge, but I'm in the US, and I don't know a single person who uses it.

by auiya 7y ago

lotsofpulp 7y ago
I find that in the US, anyone who communicates with people in other countries uses Whatsapp. It was the first easy way to communicate across borders and not have to worry about international charges. It’s also better than SMS/MMS.
- capableweb 7y ago
  > It was the first easy way to communicate across borders and not have to worry about international charges It was absolutely not. Skype was before, and many others. If you're talking about general communication applications/medium over internet.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    I meant easy way for non computer literate people. You handed someone a phone, installed Whatsapp, it sent the auto verification text and now you could communicate without having to know your own username/password or without have to know someone else’s username. It was seamless, and that’s why it caught on so quick, and requiring the phone number verification made it so there was no spam. The on boarding was so quick and painless, I feel like that’s what made it spread so quickly.
ryanmercer 7y ago
Same. I used whatsapp for like 2 months to talk to a single person, my podcast partner that was in Australia and we quit the podcast and I never used it again. I have 2 contacts that use signal, one is a VC that I've texted one occasion when we were trying to talk on the phone but Fi was being Fi and he could barely hear me. I have 2 contacts that have Marco Polo installed for video messages, 1 hasn't been online in over a month and the other is my fiance that's currently living 9 hours away so we use it most days just to see each other. My brother and mother message me exclusively on messenger, as do a half dozen of my friends even though we have each other's numbers. Everyone else is regular sms/mms.
brewdad 7y ago
Funny enough, the only friends I chat with on WhatsApp are US expats living in Europe for the last couple of years.

Agree. I've heard WhatsApp usage worldwide is huge, but I'm in the US, and I don't know a single person who uses it.

by auiya 7y ago

Agree. I've heard WhatsApp usage worldwide is huge, but I'm in the US, and I don't know a single person who uses it.

I find that in the US, anyone who communicates with people in other countries uses Whatsapp. It was the first easy way to communicate across borders and not have to worry about international charges. It’s also better than SMS/MMS.

capableweb 7y ago
> It was the first easy way to communicate across borders and not have to worry about international charges It was absolutely not. Skype was before, and many others. If you're talking about general communication applications/medium over internet.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  I meant easy way for non computer literate people. You handed someone a phone, installed Whatsapp, it sent the auto verification text and now you could communicate without having to know your own username/password or without have to know someone else’s username. It was seamless, and that’s why it caught on so quick, and requiring the phone number verification made it so there was no spam. The on boarding was so quick and painless, I feel like that’s what made it spread so quickly.

ryanmercer 7y ago

Same. I used whatsapp for like 2 months to talk to a single person, my podcast partner that was in Australia and we quit the podcast and I never used it again. I have 2 contacts that use signal, one is a VC that I've texted one occasion when we were trying to talk on the phone but Fi was being Fi and he could barely hear me. I have 2 contacts that have Marco Polo installed for video messages, 1 hasn't been online in over a month and the other is my fiance that's currently living 9 hours away so we use it most days just to see each other. My brother and mother message me exclusively on messenger, as do a half dozen of my friends even though we have each other's numbers. Everyone else is regular sms/mms.

brewdad 7y ago

Funny enough, the only friends I chat with on WhatsApp are US expats living in Europe for the last couple of years.