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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

nytimes.com

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Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#591

Post by tacker2000 »

vips7L wrote: post #543
tacker2000 wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imessage is a platform also owned by big tech, and the primary motivation and goal of Apple is to keep users locked in to their own ecosystem. As a a result, imessage doesnt support any other mobile platforms properly, and even discriminates against users that dont have an iphone. The world outside of the US doesnt have 80% iphone penetration. How you can say that imessage is any “better” is a complete mystery to me.…

> How you can say that imessage is any “better” is a complete mystery to me. We’re literally in a thread about being served ads in WhatsApp.

They are both not a good solution to good, secure, ubiquitious and “free” messaging.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#592

Post by latexr »

lugu wrote: post #480
socalgal2 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people would never pay for software. I see this and not see this. See this = friend wants to check out app but it costs $1-$3. I'm like, that's less than a coffee or a candy bar that you consume disposably. Why not just try it and if it's sucks throw it away, the same way you might with a new food item? That argument doesn't work on them for some reason. not see = Steam

IMO the problem of many platforms is that they don't let you "own" the software (whatever that means). Steam experience is closer to the feel of ownership because: - Most games don't just randomly upgrade. They are stable. - Steam is cross platform enough that you can use the software on different devices as if you were copying it. - Your steam account isn't the center of your digital life, it's access isn't subject…

I don’t buy that justification, most people have never and will never spare a thought for “software ownership”. I’d bet the truth is closer to “people don’t see games as software, but as entertainment. Paying for them is no different to paying to go to the movies, buy a song on iTunes, use Spotify, or Netflix”.

Apps (“software”) and games are fundamentally different in the public’s perception. Look at the App Store, it has two different tabs for games and Apple is even making a separate app for them.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#593

Post by palata »

wkat4242 wrote: post #578
alias_neo wrote: post #570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved my family over to Signal years ago. Anyone new who wants to message me, I simply say "I'm on Signal" and if it's important enough, they go and install it; it's been fairly frictionless, after all how hard is it to download an app and go through the fairly minimal registration process; and for someone already using WhatsApp, "one more account" probably isn't a major concern. I tried various steps in the past t…

For me the "one more account" is really a problem. WhatsApp is the standard messenger in most of the EU. And I don't want to go to signal because it's only marginally better. It's still American and still a walled garden (no third party apps allowed, no federation). It's a slightly less smelly walled garden.

I don't get this. Everyone is used to juggling between multiple apps, many of which allow to send messages. People are fine talking over Discord AND WhatsApp AND three others, but somehow "it's unbearable to add Signal". And it's not exactly "yet another app", it's pretty much a clone of WhatsApp. So if everybody moved to Signal, we could just get rid of WhatsApp. Which gets us to your second point:

> And I don't want to go to signal because it's only marginally better. It's still American and still a walled garden (no third party apps allowed, no federation). It's a slightly less smelly walled garden.

This, to me, is downright irrational. "Less smelly" is better, especially if it takes zero effort (you don't even need to create an account with a password, it just sends you an SMS).

If there was a non-American alternative to Signal, surely I would go for it. But there isn't. In the meantime, Signal is by far the best alternative to WhatsApp in terms of privacy.

Not to mention that there is actually a valid reason to not allow third party apps (spoiler: security). Last time I heard a fork of Signal making the news, it was pretty bad.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#594

Post by xinayder »

Has anyone reported this as a DMA and GDPR violation to the EU? They're using personal data to show personalized ads, without an option to opt-out entirely, and I'm pretty sure they will offer the same shitty deal for EU users: either pay for less intrusive ads, or sell your data for personalized ones.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#595

Post by homebrewer »

bapak wrote: post #525
osculum wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp used to be a paid app, and I paid for it back in the day, as did lots of my friends.

You can't have both a paid app and an app with billions of users. You can use WhatsApp to talk to people across the world, you bet your ass that nobody would be using it in Indonesia and Brazil if it costed one dollar, vastly diminishing its value. If you want a free app that only part of users worldwide can afford there's already iMessage.

Nonsense, it was very popular in my low-income country even back then. They charged something like half a day of income of a manual laborer per year, and everybody was happy to pay since it made your life so much easier. Of course, there's no going back now that everybody is accustomed to using it "for free".

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#596

Post by tialaramex »

mrweasel wrote: post #548
fanwood wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the solution by convincing all my friends and family, one by one, to move to Signal. I still use Whatsapp for people who did not migrate, but it's surprisingly possible (if not easy) to convince people to use another app

That's amazing, I'm still trying to move our family group chat to Signal... I've moved exact zero family members.

I was pleasantly surprised one evening, out with friends, as for some reason the entire group decided they ought to mutually verify on Signal. I'm not certain that "Very drunk people" are the best possible to perform the verification step in Signal, but it's certainly true that you'd have to be a very determined and skilled imposter to show up to somebody's birthday, drink and smoke for several hours in that company and then go through this elaborate verification ritual.

Over time such verification "decays". People buy a new phone, that sort of thing, but it was a healthy boost in one inexplicable moment.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#597

Post by HenryBemis »

sebastiennight wrote: post #546
fanwood wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the solution by convincing all my friends and family, one by one, to move to Signal. I still use Whatsapp for people who did not migrate, but it's surprisingly possible (if not easy) to convince people to use another app

Same here. The trick is to never mention "privacy", "no ads", or anything similar (which has negative perceived value). If you talk about that stuff, people will dilly-dally with the usual "well I already have too many apps, I'm not sure I want to install one more" I tell people that the video calls are better (which was true in my experience, back when I still used WA). Instant install

The fun fact is that those people have 100+ apps on their phones, which run in the background, draining their batteries, tracking the sh*t out of them, never actually use them (get value out of them) and they think zero about their privacy (probably use gmail or the sorts). Someone asked me to install Viber and it had 30 pages of advertisers/data brokers. I won't share a bowl of poop with them (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.) "Meet them where they are" doesn't work if they are in a pool of privacy-poop.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#600

Post by amelius »

bootsmann wrote: post #586
whiplash451 wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a massive barrier to switching. In order to switch, you also need to convince your acquaintances to switch. Good luck with that.

There is no switching involved, you can have two apps installed at the same time. It's not a social network where posting to one means the people posting on the other won't see your stuff.

You are ignoring chat groups here.
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