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They're also critical to getting people to move from WhatsApp. Next time when Facebook pulls something user-hostile (e.g. monetization with ads, yet another pr

They're also critical to getting people to move from WhatsApp. Next time when Facebook pulls something user-hostile (e.g. monetization with ads, yet another privacy policy change for the worse, ...) some people will simply install Signal. If they use phone numbers as (an) identifier, two people who do this independently can immediately switch to Signal. If A convinces B to switch, and C convinces D to switch, B and D can now talk to each other, reducing the pressure to keep WhatsApp as more and more of your friends are reachable on Signal. Even if you're using WhatsApp in addition to Signal, with phone numbers as identifiers, you're no longer contributing to the network effect that makes it painful for your friends to switch from WhatsApp to Signal. Given that network effect is what makes or breaks messengers, phone numbers as the primary identifier are the only reasonable choice.

TacticalCoder 5y ago
> Next time when Facebook pulls something user-hostile ... In my opinion with or without FB putting anything more hostile people are moving, in drones, to Telegram. I see regular people (non-tecchies at all) in my friends' circle joining Telegram regularly. I'm not saying TG is better than Signal but I think TG's userbase is many orders of magnitude bigger than Signal's.
- panopticon 5y ago
  > people are moving, in drones, to Telegram As an aside, the idiom is "in droves".
- takeda 5y ago
  That's because that's where many of the disinformation facebook groups went to, which is not surprising as Telegram is Russia owned.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  These trends tend to be "local" to some extent. Sometimes country based, but I've heard of cities where different schools had different messengers (back in the ICQ/MSN etc. days). In the end, people use what their circle of friends uses. In Switzerland for example Threema is popular. In many countries you still can't really exist without Whatsapp. In China, Wechat. In Taiwan I believe you use Line if you want to have any friends (or reach businesses). In the US, iMessage with a fallback to SMS is popular, while it's rare in Europe because the SMS fallback would bankrupt you due to per-SMS charges.

TacticalCoder 5y ago

> Next time when Facebook pulls something user-hostile ... In my opinion with or without FB putting anything more hostile people are moving, in drones, to Telegram. I see regular people (non-tecchies at all) in my friends' circle joining Telegram regularly. I'm not saying TG is better than Signal but I think TG's userbase is many orders of magnitude bigger than Signal's.

panopticon 5y ago
> people are moving, in drones, to Telegram As an aside, the idiom is "in droves".
takeda 5y ago
That's because that's where many of the disinformation facebook groups went to, which is not surprising as Telegram is Russia owned.
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
These trends tend to be "local" to some extent. Sometimes country based, but I've heard of cities where different schools had different messengers (back in the ICQ/MSN etc. days). In the end, people use what their circle of friends uses. In Switzerland for example Threema is popular. In many countries you still can't really exist without Whatsapp. In China, Wechat. In Taiwan I believe you use Line if you want to have any friends (or reach businesses). In the US, iMessage with a fallback to SMS is popular, while it's rare in Europe because the SMS fallback would bankrupt you due to per-SMS charges.