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Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

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Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#161

Post by leokennis »

selfhoster11 wrote: post #37
leokennis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My strategy is: tell them I will be leaving WhatsApp, and they can reach me on Signal. If they don’t care enough to install a free app to talk to me, good riddance.

This is a good strategy for burning bridges that don't have to be burnt (and I mean between friends, not just random acquaintances who you don't care for). It's better to gradually shift person-by-person so that you don't lose relationships.

Why? They can still reach me for free and with all convenience one could hope for.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#162

Post by r00fus »

ffpip wrote: post #32

Pretty much impossible here in India. Whatsapp is so popular here. They are responsible for almost all personal messages sent, and play a huge role for small businesses here.

Business and personal are slightly different use cases, for personal you can simply do the migration suggestions provided above.

For business, you may not want to burn a lead channel - it's up to you, but you could segregate the two and not share personal stuff on WA.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#163

Post by ed_blackburn »

You can’t. You won’t. Don’t stress out trying. Minimise what you send. Use alternatives where you can. You won’t persuade 60 parents in your kids classes what’s app group to switch over. They’ll all have FB already and frankly don’t care, won’t care and feel the privacy sacrifice is worth the utility. Accept that some people are happy being the product. Like some people vote Red and other vote Blue.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#164

Post by skinkestek »

gtirloni wrote: post #3

Nobody will give a damn about the privacy changes. You've got to convince them based on other features like stickers, video playback and other "exciting" things.

Or just the fact that is extremely much better in all ux departments:

- the app is now so much better that I was confused last time I used WhatsApp (I also think WhatsApp must have gone backwards, it was better before, wasn't it?)

- better admin tools for groups (mute, disallow stickers etc)

- disappearing chats. More convenience than security IMO but still something I use with my wife. I always lock my phone, but she lets our kids borrow it sometimes and I'd not to share everything we tell each with the kids :-)

- scheduled messages: remember lunch Lisa!

- and for your geek friends: actually open source, multiple client goodness. And APIs. And bots that you can create yourselves.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#165

Post by InvertedRhodium »

I don't know why everyone is so adamant that it's never going to happen, it seems an incredibly defeatist mindset to take. The best way I can think of is to make people want to speak to you and then only be available on Signal.

If installing a messaging application is an insurmountable barrier to their desire to communicate with you, I'm not sure how solid a relationship there was in the first place.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#166

Post by godelski »

spidersouris wrote: post #108
cassianoleal wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the reason why I put off quitting Facebook for years. I have done that a few years ago though, and neither I'm isolated nor I feel like I've lost anything meaningful. I'm still in touch with my dear friends and family, and that will continue without WhatsApp.

Some people just don't have the choice. My university class group depends on Messenger, several family members and friends do too. It may be easier to incite individual people to change messaging services, but when it comes to groups or common social connections, it becomes quite difficult. I can't ask everyone in a group to stop using Messenger just because I don't want to, and neither can I ask my family to contact…

You don't ask everyone. You try to build momentum. Get the nerds, geeks, and people that like to feel like they are special for using tech. You get these people because the privacy features. They are the easy grabs. Then one by one you form groups with those people and a few outsiders. You get these people because there's no meaningful usability difference between apps. At some point you have critical mass and getting others is fairly trivial. "We're all talking over here, just come on. It is easier." You get these people because of network effect.

You can't expect everyone to switch all at once. If you really want to get people on the app you have to be smarter about how you get people there.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#168

Post by godelski »

gtirloni wrote: post #3

Nobody will give a damn about the privacy changes. You've got to convince them based on other features like stickers, video playback and other "exciting" things.

I think you get the nerds with privacy. But you get others with the network effect. So you get the nerds first and that helps build your initial base that helps expand your network. Get your DnD or boardgame group to use Signal. Then get other peers, then get family. The problem of converting people is the network effect. Similarly the solution to converting people is creating a network.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#169

Post by dominotw »

Ansil849 wrote: post #89

I have stopped communicating with friends and family who try communicating via insecure apps. I send a response saying I will only read Signal or similar messages from them. Some think this is a hardline, but my security is important to me, and true friends and family need to respect that. It's kind of like how my sister is vegan, so when she comes over for dinner, I cook vegan dishes for her. I respect and accommoda…

My parents are not too tech savvy to install and use another messenger app. I installed watsapp on their phones when i was in India last time. Even if i can go there and install signal for them, I wont to do that.

This is ok tradeoff for me. Its fine. Being able to video chat with my parents trumps everything else.

Re: Ask HN: How would you convince your friends and family to switch from WhatsApp?

#170

Post by JeremyNT »

Ansil849 wrote: post #89

I have stopped communicating with friends and family who try communicating via insecure apps. I send a response saying I will only read Signal or similar messages from them. Some think this is a hardline, but my security is important to me, and true friends and family need to respect that. It's kind of like how my sister is vegan, so when she comes over for dinner, I cook vegan dishes for her. I respect and accommoda…

I do this as well. I never used WhatsApp and I'm not inclined to use it.

Most people who really want to communicate with me via an IM service acquiesce and install Signal.

I think people overstate how difficult it is to get somebody to install Signal. I've got a 100% conversion rate amongst my extended family.

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