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Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

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Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#51

Post by adonese »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

One thing I really hate about whatsapp voice notes is that they give a seen indicator for the sender. My privacy settings disable all of seen and is currently active features and I'd really love if the voice notes would just respect that.

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#52

Post by GekkePrutser »

capableweb wrote: post #3
GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

> I run all my chats through my own matrix server (with bridges) and I was actually thinking of making something that automatically tries to transcribe them. The problem though is that I speak 3 languages :) I'd be very interested in something like this! Also deal with 3 different languages on a daily basis in different group chats, and many people use voice messages. If you get started I'd for sure contribute to you…

Thanks, I had it on my list to investigate, will let you know!

Part of the problem is that I'd like to use a service that isn't too privacy invasive. Unfortunately I doubt there is one that's good and doesn't do that :)

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#53

Post by GekkePrutser »

ojosilva wrote: post #33
GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

I'm also not a big fan of voice messages in chats, but got used to it. Lately, speeding up playback (the "1.5x" or "2x" in Whatsapp) has been a true blessing for the receiver end. Voice messages are also useful when writing is not physically viable (ie. while cooking). I even tend to prefer it when I want to develop an idea while delivering the message and have the message development process itself registered as par…

I tried the speeding up but it feels so rushed. The same way people always seem to be in a rush to pack their stuff in Aldi/Lidl stores (because the staff are always in a hurry). It feels like pressure and I avoid it for that reason.

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#54

Post by TruthWillHurt »

"..a Facebook study attempted to ask users in countries with high audio use, but was only able to find a single Cambodian respondent."

Sell your stocks. that's a dead, bloated company.

A plane ticket and asking people on the street would probably cost less than their "study"..

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#55

Post by GekkePrutser »

theshrike79 wrote: post #9
GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

When sending audio messages you are exchanging your convenience for the inconvenience of others. I just refuse to listen to any and don't receive them any more. Yes, there are valid use-cases for one-way voice messages. There just aren't many of those.

> When sending audio messages you are exchanging your convenience for the inconvenience of others.

This is exactly what I wanted to say in my post, but perfectly phrased and to the point. I'll remember this one if it comes up again, thanks!!

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#56

Post by dahart »

> The answer, surprisingly, has less to do with Facebook, and more to do with the complexity of the Khmer language, and the way users adapt for a technology that was never designed with them in mind.

I’m immediately skeptical of this for two reasons:

- My kids’ school announcement voice messages in the last year started combing from phone numbers in Cambodia. I live in the US. I just assume there is some extra cheap voice service there, and a strong advertising campaign.

- Pure speculation, but even if Cambodia’s voice message use is 100x higher than the rest of the planet, it would still be hard for Cambodians to reach 50% of the traffic for this global app. I could be dead wrong, but this feels unlikely to me, especially in combination with the above. (Population of Cambodia: ~16.7 million. Population of earth: ~7.75 billion.)

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#57

Post by GekkePrutser »

OneTimePetes wrote: post #17
GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

Yes, i know, no market, no interest in it, but there is this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy It correlates with the wealth in a country. An-alphabets will prefer voice chat.

Indeed but the article in particular mentions that this was the suspected region originally but turned out to not be the case.

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#58

Post by dahart »

arlburn wrote: post #41

I do think that voice messaging is a waste of time compared to reading. You can read fast enough to churn out information, but you need to wait for every second to digest the information in a voice call.

You’re not accounting for the time it takes to compose text, and use thumbs to type text. I can’t stand trying to plan outings with people via text because it’s so damn slow and the message size is so small. We always end up calling each other to talk it out because it’s many times faster.

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#59

Post by bellyfullofbac »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #27
rvba wrote: post #26

Interesting that Facebook doesnt have a translitetation service to spy on them? Also it sounds so strange that facebook does not have any Khmer speakers who could help them understand what is going on in the country. How do they translate the site or sell ads there? Or they simply dont, since the market is too small?

>How do they translate the site or sell ads there? Historically, FB used to let users translate the site (presumably they don't do this any more). And yeah, Cambodia is not a large ad market (not enough rich people) so it's unlikely that they have a sales team based there.

Musing out loud: I wonder if FB knows who the Cambodian elite are, and have targetted marketing for them, probably in English.

Geez, if I had a social network and no morals and no fears of getting caught (or the fines are cheaper than the possible profits), I'd quietly try to sell "eyeball access" to high net-worth invidivuals, who I can easily find in the database. Although who'd want this access, aren't Facebook ads just mostly scams nowadays?

(I just realize I get a lot of ads on Instagram, and most of them look legit enough)

Re: Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger’s total voice traffic comes from Cambodia

#60

Post by smoe »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

I understand why people use it but as a recipient I really hate voice messages. Here in Spain they are becoming more common too. The problem is as the article mentions. Difficulty searching back, not being able to use Google translate (I'm still learning Spanish), and the time it takes to listen to them. Sending a voice message is faster than typing for the sender but much slower than reading for the recipient which…

I used to hate voice messages, but I no longer think it is that black and white.

What I still highly dislike are voice messages without prior context or prompt. Eg. just receiving a message out of nowhere, not having any idea what it is about, having to dig around for headphones just to find out, that it says: "hello! how's it going?"

On the other hand, if I ask a person a question that can't be answered in just a sentence, I'm perfectly fine with the other person quickly recording a 1 min voice message instead of having to type it out.

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