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WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

andregarzia.com

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Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#101

Post by Smirnoff »

wjnc wrote: post #86
Smirnoff wrote: post #57

WhatsApp went from being a poster child to an ugly donkey in my country (Uzbekistan & other countries in Central Asia). Just two years ago everyone I knew was using WhatsApp, and what happened now? Most people use either Viber or Telegram, because uploading/downloading pics on WhatsApp takes forever. WhatsApp had a POTENTIALLY massive commercial use here and they blew it with paid subscriptions (which people in my co…

It's awesome to read about use cases in countries I know little about. Viber, Telegram for direct marketing? Wow. How do people decide to join? How do you do ad's? Just like in Argentina in '11 I was amazed that all SME had Facebooks, and were just skipping the website-part I was used to. Funny how local circumstances (might your Whatsapp problem just be an upload-to-US problem?) create different business environment…

Doing business in countries like Uzbekistan is tough because of inability to get payments. But there is a solution to that and it's called MIDDLE MAN.

For example, Facebook ads are really picking up here. Of course, most small businesses cannot pay to Facebook directly due to tight payment regulations. So what happens? A middle man comes in. He signs up as a Facebook partner (or regular user), finds small local businesses that pay him extra and then he pays Facebook through his internationally accepted cards to show ads belonging to others.

I have no doubt that if American companies came here and tried a little, they would quickly realize that Uzbeks are entrepreneurs, who can be good partners and can make lots of money.

Even the ideas that I see pop up in the United States have been implemented here long time ago. For instance, we had car-sharing service in Uzbekistan since I was a child -- we just didn't have GPS and mobile phones to make an Uber, so we had middle men finding riders and putting them into one car. Then the driver would pay a fee for that.

Same thing with delivery -- we had delivery services, which you could call, so they could find the closest person to you (or the store/pharmacy) and deliver the items quickly. You would just pay cash to the driver (which of course had to be trustworthy-- otherwise delivery service wouldn't work with them)

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#102

Post by wingerlang »

wjnc wrote: post #86
Smirnoff wrote: post #57

WhatsApp went from being a poster child to an ugly donkey in my country (Uzbekistan & other countries in Central Asia). Just two years ago everyone I knew was using WhatsApp, and what happened now? Most people use either Viber or Telegram, because uploading/downloading pics on WhatsApp takes forever. WhatsApp had a POTENTIALLY massive commercial use here and they blew it with paid subscriptions (which people in my co…

It's awesome to read about use cases in countries I know little about. Viber, Telegram for direct marketing? Wow. How do people decide to join? How do you do ad's? Just like in Argentina in '11 I was amazed that all SME had Facebooks, and were just skipping the website-part I was used to. Funny how local circumstances (might your Whatsapp problem just be an upload-to-US problem?) create different business environment…

> Viber, Telegram for direct marketing? Wow. How do people decide to join? How do you do ad's?

I've lived in a country where LINE, an IM/Call/Video/Games/etc is hugely popular.

Companies have official accounts which works for a couple of reasons:

1. Sometimes they gets automatically added to your list I think. I might have just forgotten how I got them though do don't quote me on this.

2. App specific promotions "follow us for xy and z". I guess this is the ads you're wondering about, it's basically a "100%" impression rate towards costumers you already know is interested in your brand.

3. Stickers are something that are huuuuge. Companies can create their own cute ones that obviously include the logo in one way or another. People then get them for free or buy them. I think companie pay to have them in the store for free, while paid stickers gives LINE a cut.

4. General curiosity from costumers, "Hm I wonder if AirAsia has a LINE account, maybe they have some discount there?"

Obviously you can block each account if you so please.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#103

Post by Joona »

P4u1 wrote: post #61

Don't you get it? It's a mobile app, which performs really well(hence no cloud storage I guess) and is associated with your phone, your phone is and will be the most important thing for whatsapp, the web thing is just a convenience for while you're at your laptop or desktop, like working and stuff, I find it awesome, it's a lot more productive then picking up the phone. I don't mind it requires having my phone connec…

Not really. I want a replacement for Skype (just for text chat). That includes desktop.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#105

Post by yummyfajitas »

I'd love to say this will make me drop whatsapp. But their lack of a web client didn't, neither did the terrible search or the invasion of privacy (not letting me turn off the blue double check mark). Sadly, whatsapp can do whatever they want and I'm stuck with it.

No whatsapp, no women. I really like women.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#106

Post by easytiger »

Igglyboo wrote: post #77
TeeWEE wrote: post #63

While i agree whatsapp web should work in every browser the auther is forgetting one IMPORTANT gotcha: Whatsapp, is a messaging-routing platform. It doesnt store any messages. Thats what makes whatsapp strong. Its a feature. Thats why you need your phone. Its like SMS. They are not storing all your sensitive message. If you dont care about storing sensitive messages on servers. Use Telegram/Facebook Messaging, etc...…

Totally agree, this is a feature, not a shortcoming. I use WhatsApp primarily because it is extremely fast when compared to SMS, iMessage is fast as well but not all of my contacts have iPhones. If I want persistent group chat I'll use Hangouts or IRC/XMPP/Jabber etc. I have hundreds of options for that.

> extremely fast

In what way is, for example, Hangouts slow?

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#107

Post by signal11 »

wjnc wrote: post #86
Smirnoff wrote: post #57

WhatsApp went from being a poster child to an ugly donkey in my country (Uzbekistan & other countries in Central Asia). Just two years ago everyone I knew was using WhatsApp, and what happened now? Most people use either Viber or Telegram, because uploading/downloading pics on WhatsApp takes forever. WhatsApp had a POTENTIALLY massive commercial use here and they blew it with paid subscriptions (which people in my co…

It's awesome to read about use cases in countries I know little about. Viber, Telegram for direct marketing? Wow. How do people decide to join? How do you do ad's? Just like in Argentina in '11 I was amazed that all SME had Facebooks, and were just skipping the website-part I was used to. Funny how local circumstances (might your Whatsapp problem just be an upload-to-US problem?) create different business environment…

The BBC has used Whatsapp to distribute news in India. It was a trial, I believe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/collegeofjournalism/entries/b2b67...

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#108

Post by [deleted] »

TeeWEE wrote: post #63

While i agree whatsapp web should work in every browser the auther is forgetting one IMPORTANT gotcha: Whatsapp, is a messaging-routing platform. It doesnt store any messages. Thats what makes whatsapp strong. Its a feature. Thats why you need your phone. Its like SMS. They are not storing all your sensitive message. If you dont care about storing sensitive messages on servers. Use Telegram/Facebook Messaging, etc...…

[deleted]

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#109

Post by k-mcgrady »

venomsnake wrote: post #84
ponyous wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what platform are you? Is there no Messenger for it? (Maybe I'm missing the point)

Why should I have 2 crippled apps than one functional. Also one that has degraded functionality. And until android has fake permissions I won't install messenger.

>> "Why should I have 2 crippled apps than one functional."

I feel the opposite. Why should I have 1 slow, bogged down app when I can have two fast, functional ones?

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#110

Post by lgeek »

venomsnake wrote: post #84
ponyous wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what platform are you? Is there no Messenger for it? (Maybe I'm missing the point)

Why should I have 2 crippled apps than one functional. Also one that has degraded functionality. And until android has fake permissions I won't install messenger.

> And until android has fake permissions I won't install messenger.

Cyanogenmod has Privacy Guard, which is pretty much that.

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