Same as everything: just help them with the tech overhead of the migration.
Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
71–80 of 210 posts
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#72Nobody in my friends or family uses WhatsApp already, so it's pretty trivial for me I guess.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#73I value contacts with my family and friends more than protecting what's left of my privacy from Facebook. So I will accept the terms of use without reading them like anyone else, continue to vote for politicians that do laws to protect my privacy, such as the GDPR, and continue to fight the privacy abuses at my own scale.
This is the pragmatic approach to the issue. Switching from a ubiquitous communications platform to something that practically nobody uses (relative to WhatsApp's active user numbers) carries a high cost in Weirdness Points[0], and those are only very slowly renewable unless you want to be seen as "the rebel of the family". [0] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wkuDgmpxwbu2M2k3w/you-have-a...
> This is the pragmatic approach to the issue
There is nothing pragmatic in helping Facebook dominate our lives entirely.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#74I 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?
> what exactly are you trying to hide
The contents of my messages, photos of my kids, who I talk to and when, my location. Is that enough for you?
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#75i don't know how to do it but my parents and a good friend switched to conversations[0] because this is what I prefer.
I guess people are willing to switch if they care about you a lot. in other words, most won't.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#76In 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…
yeah, sounds like an impossible situation to get our of over there. also sounds like facebook have essentially monopolised messaging services in Mexio. I also read something similar about Brazil too.
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Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#77It's very interesting that this is the 4th Anti-Whatsapp post on HN in the past 2 days. These posts seem to get a higher than normal amount of engagement also. weird.
Changing of goalposts. Bait and switch.
I’d love to have an alternative.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#78You don't, because this is an asinine reason to switch. Facebook acquired WhatsApp 6 years ago.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uprooting and going away with no warning, and then refusing to communicate unless it's not from an old platform sounds is a perfect recipe for being seen as awfully arrogant. The issue here is that it's a sudden approach. Humans are creatures of habit, and shifting interpersonal relationships slowly matters. This is not an API migration to a new provider where you push a commit or two and it's done. If you explain wh…
How is it arrogant to dictate personal boundaries? If your not comfortable using a messaging app, you don’t have to use it. Why are you suggesting that everyone needs to bow to peer pressure or they’re arrogant? If I suddenly decide one day I don’t want to drink alcohol but all my friends do, if they see me as arrogant because of that, that’s their problem, not mine. I’m under no obligation to slowly stop drinking be…
You are right. But this is how you get yourself isolated.
Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?
#80I 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?
Are you serious here? Working in AdTech - which does (or at least should) translate to "working on undoing the good which used to be the public internet" - you most certainly realise, and possibly salivate over the breadth and width of Facebook's means to profile 'net users, whether those be actual Facebook (as in "Facebook the site, Instagram, WhatsApp and whatever other company they reeled in") users or otherwise.…
I am 100% serious. I get the "ad-free public internet" nostalgia, but ads is an inevitable component of our economy. The good old internet was good only because it was something new and unknown. The very first newspapers did not have ads. 100 years after, Benjamin Franklin pulled the trigger and started a column for advertisers to promote their products and services. Ads are valuable. They can make a huge difference for your business. Ads are not going anywhere in the near future.
Working for AdTech doesn't mean undoing the good. Given that the internet is pretty young, there is nothing to undo. Working for AdTech means improving what's already out there.
Don't get me wrong. I hate ads. Who doesn't? Everyone in AdTech uses ad blocker, such is life ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But, every time I launch a new project, I need some form of advertisement. It can be be Show HN, Product Hunt or Google PPC. But I need ads. You need ads. And if you don't need them now, you most likely will in the future.
I obviously don't know everything about AdTech and I'm sure there are a ton of shady players, exploiting your software/hardware to sneak some ads in (reputable firms do not appreciate such behavior). But from what I do know, the kind of data being shared by apps is so boring that it's actually in a user's best interest to allow the data to be shared. Otherwise doctors will see ads about vaping and fishers will see ads about the latest JavaScript IDEs. Which is why I asked, what exactly is being shared by WhatsApp? I honestly don't give a shit about Facebook knowing my gender, age, the city I'm from, etc. I'm 34, male, living in New York. Now what? In contrast, if WhatsApp shares your messages and files with third-party companies, then that's for sure a shady shit that affect your security. A whole separate conversation.