The network effect only acts if enough people in your network use it. It is subject to a threshold with a sigmoid activation. If only three people in a group of

The network effect only acts if enough people in your network use it. It is subject to a threshold with a sigmoid activation. If only three people in a group of ten want to use Signal, it's different than if 7 want to switch. So right now, as most folks use Whatsapp, it favours Whatsapp far more than it favours Signal. It also depends on your level of seniority in that group. If you are a junior member, they likely won't switch, but if you have the social clout, you might be able to get them to switch. For the same reason, Facebook was initially open to only Harvard, then to a few other ivies, until it opened to all colleges in the USA and Canada. If your high school friend who made it to the the highly esteemed college uses the service you are more likely to switch than if it were the reverse situation. Later these people get into important positions of society and if you want to network with them, you too can use FB.