In my country (Mexico) it'll be pretty much impossible, everyone uses WA/Messenger (both FB owned) many businesses/stores have support via those channels (and that support is almost always faster than calling them) Also my appartament building has a WA group where people notifies important stuff. And to add insult to perjury most data plans include WA/Messenger/FB free. I tried years ago (2014-15) to stay telegram on…
Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
21–30 of 210 posts
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#22Steps, I've taken in order. 0. Removing myself from all active WhatsApp groups. 1. Setting the WhatsApp status to 'Message me on Signal or Email me' and not responding to non-important messages till they message on Signal or Email me. 2. When someone asks if we can continue our conversation on WhatsApp, politely informing them that I don't use WhatsApp and asking them to message on Signal. 3. Setting a Tasker auto re…
Thanks for this :-)
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#23I don't use any messenger apps, but I work in AdTech. Just curious, what exactly are you trying to hide? What kind of information is being shared by WhatsApp?
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#24My family hates WhatsApp as there are no Telegram stickers there. So it was easy. So I guess, I'd show them animated stickers. WhatsApp feels archaic tbh
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#25I tried asking my parents to switch to Signal, but it did not fly. They are in their 70s and are used to WhatsApp. They don't care about privacy. My Mom yelled at me for endorsing Signal to her. She said: "All my friends are on WhatsApp. I don't want to install another app just because of one person."
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#26Simple: You wont get computer help from me anymore if you try message me on WhatsApp. Install the messenger i tell you to install.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#27I tried asking my parents to switch to Signal, but it did not fly. They are in their 70s and are used to WhatsApp. They don't care about privacy. My Mom yelled at me for endorsing Signal to her. She said: "All my friends are on WhatsApp. I don't want to install another app just because of one person."
If they don’t care enough to install a free app to talk to me, good riddance.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#28Simple: You wont get computer help from me anymore if you try message me on WhatsApp. Install the messenger i tell you to install.
Coercion? How crude and unlikely. Everyone I know is able enough to administer their own gizmos. If someone asks, I point them to the zero config option that will require zero tech skills. Computer maintenance is mostly unskilled drudgery nowadays, not wizardry.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#29I don't use any messenger apps, but I work in AdTech. Just curious, what exactly are you trying to hide? What kind of information is being shared by WhatsApp?
While this might not work as an argument to convince friends and family to stay away from Facebook (et al) it is the actual reason for doing so. It is just that the argument smacks too much of politics and zealotry to get people to change their ways.
To answer the original poster's question I'd suggest to simply use something else and give those friends and family your contact info on that other thing. There are plenty of options out there, all with their own pros and cons. The easiest sell will probably be Telegram since it offers a far superior user experience over WhatsApp, especially for those who use more than a single device. That this implies that Telegram stores user data and as such theoretically could do all sorts of nefarious things with it is just as interesting to the average user as the fact that Facebook will have been abusing WhatsApp data for years now, most people simply don't care. Telegram now also offers video calls by the way which takes away the last advantage WhatsApp had.