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Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

economictimes.indiatimes.com

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Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#71

Post by 1_player »

drno123 wrote: post #50
mmsimanga wrote: post #23

In the part of Africa I am from, the challenge is cellular network providers sell data bundles specifically for WhatsApp. It is so much cheaper to buy a social media data bundle than generic data to use for browsing the web. As a result Telegram and Signal cannot compete. WhatsApp is literally the internet.

What incentive do network providers have to do that?

The fact that people in 3rd world countries are more likely to get a phone plan that includes the most used app to keep in touch with friends and family.

Sadly, when you're poor you couldn't care less about net neutrality if it means saving some money.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#72

Post by GordonS »

sangli wrote: post #11
codeknight11 wrote: post #5

Signal won't be able to make even a dent in WhatsApp's empire. WhatsApp isn't just a messaging app. With its stories and statuses, it's a mini social network in and of itself. Beyond the HackerNews crowd, most people don't care about privacy. They care about features. Signal won't be able to compete with WhatsApp unless it builds some of those features into its app. Edit - HackerNews crowd seems to get tunnel visione…

I am using whatsapp since 2012 (or even earlier) if I remember correctly. I paid $2 a year for 5 years to use WhatsApp. The reason being I have friends and family all over the world including different parts of USA, canada, Dubai, Singapore, Australia, India, UK etc. Whatsapp was the best tool for communication. And as you suggest stories and statuses are a part of whatsapp, it's just a second thought at the best. Ou…

I've been using WhatsApp for a similar length of time, maybe since 2010 or so - I had no idea WhatsApp even had such features beyond messaging, file sharing and videos calls, and I've no idea what "stories" or "statuses" even are. All I want is those core features.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#73

Post by heisenbit »

codeknight11 wrote: post #5

Signal won't be able to make even a dent in WhatsApp's empire. WhatsApp isn't just a messaging app. With its stories and statuses, it's a mini social network in and of itself. Beyond the HackerNews crowd, most people don't care about privacy. They care about features. Signal won't be able to compete with WhatsApp unless it builds some of those features into its app. Edit - HackerNews crowd seems to get tunnel visione…

The only way we can limit these network synergy based monopolies is to force some level of interoperability.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#74

Post by GordonS »

bostik wrote: post #62
Vinnl wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's only until the end of your post where you say "unless it builds some of those features into its app". That's kind of an important qualifier. Signal has been steadily growing for a while, and while doing so, implementing plenty of features from other competing apps: disappearing messages came, stickers came, group video calling came, etc. I'm not saying they're definitely going to overtake WhatsApp, but they've f…

> unless it builds some of those features Here's a thing I don't understand - why is everyone obsessed with copycatting? By aiming for feature parity you, as a business or service, are letting a competitor dictate your roadmap. And what's worse, with features they have already shipped.

As a general case, I think you make a good point. But in this particular case, WhatsApp really is pretty perfect as far as messaging goes - the only issue is the terms of service, so it makes sense for Signal to have the same features, but without horrible ToS.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#75

Post by Havoc »

codeknight11 wrote: post #5

Signal won't be able to make even a dent in WhatsApp's empire. WhatsApp isn't just a messaging app. With its stories and statuses, it's a mini social network in and of itself. Beyond the HackerNews crowd, most people don't care about privacy. They care about features. Signal won't be able to compete with WhatsApp unless it builds some of those features into its app. Edit - HackerNews crowd seems to get tunnel visione…

>WhatsApp isn't just a messaging app

To many that is the sticky part though.

>Beyond the HackerNews crowd, most people don't care about privacy.

I thought so two...but there does seem to be some ground level chatter on this among young non-techies.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#76

Post by foolmeonce »

selestify wrote: post #40
Method-X wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What will make WhatsApp lose? It would have to be something fundamental. Any new feature that gains significant popularity can easily be added to WhatsApp (e.g. stories); in addition to having network effects working in their favour.

The only feature I don’t see WhatsApp adopting is Signal’s strong privacy focus. I guess we’ll see how important privacy alone is as a feature.

I think the key here is that the anti-backdoor argument is based on fundamental problems.

Whatsapp will be inclined to bow to one and then many governments and create backdoors and also wants access to content as part of its business model. They will eventually lose a lot of data that was supposed to be e2e encrypted, people will be upset, and FB's focus will be explaining how its not responsible for the damages.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#77

Post by itsarnavb »

bavell wrote: post #55
1241rtfasfasf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should it be at its peak? Look at WeChat. If WhatsApp successfully transitions to a platform with payments, business interactions, possibly in-app-ecosystem, then the network effects become even crazier. Signal on the other hand doesn't even attempt any of that: it solves messaging with no perspective on third-party service integration.

One of the biggest reasons I use and like Signal is because it doesn't have a bunch of extra stupid crap like payments, in-app ecosystem, business interactions and all the other junk pushed by corporations in a quest to "expand the userbase". I just want a solid texting platform, that's it. So far I've been happy, even with a few unnecessary updates like stickers (?!) and disappearing messages (ugh).

My sense for WhatsApp's dominance is peripheral contacts. I can convince close friends and family to move to Signal, but not distant friends, especially the large groups I'm in.

I'm pretty bearish on Signal for this reason. (even though I use it personally)

The playbook for unlocking adoption would be via a 'minority rule' where Signal users refuse to talk to people on WA, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#78

Post by mnadkvlb »

itsarnavb wrote: post #77
bavell wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the biggest reasons I use and like Signal is because it doesn't have a bunch of extra stupid crap like payments, in-app ecosystem, business interactions and all the other junk pushed by corporations in a quest to "expand the userbase". I just want a solid texting platform, that's it. So far I've been happy, even with a few unnecessary updates like stickers (?!) and disappearing messages (ugh).

My sense for WhatsApp's dominance is peripheral contacts. I can convince close friends and family to move to Signal, but not distant friends, especially the large groups I'm in. I'm pretty bearish on Signal for this reason. (even though I use it personally) The playbook for unlocking adoption would be via a 'minority rule' where Signal users refuse to talk to people on WA, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I actually did just that. Changed my status to “only reachable by signal app” also same message on my profile pic. Just got around 5 people who talk to me on whatsapp already writing me on signal without problem. And funny thing 3/5 have also done same to their whatsapp now

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#79

Post by abdullahkhalids »

drno123 wrote: post #50
mmsimanga wrote: post #23

In the part of Africa I am from, the challenge is cellular network providers sell data bundles specifically for WhatsApp. It is so much cheaper to buy a social media data bundle than generic data to use for browsing the web. As a result Telegram and Signal cannot compete. WhatsApp is literally the internet.

What incentive do network providers have to do that?

Facebook/Google pay them.

Re: Signal gaining popularity in India after WhatsApp policy changes

#80

Post by yagizdegirmenci »

codeknight11 wrote: post #5

Signal won't be able to make even a dent in WhatsApp's empire. WhatsApp isn't just a messaging app. With its stories and statuses, it's a mini social network in and of itself. Beyond the HackerNews crowd, most people don't care about privacy. They care about features. Signal won't be able to compete with WhatsApp unless it builds some of those features into its app. Edit - HackerNews crowd seems to get tunnel visione…

Hardly agreed, they just don't care about their privacy.

Most of us is somewhat related to the software industry. We know what's the worst thing could happen when we don't care about privacy.

On the other hand, 90% of people be like "so what? should i throw my phone to the lake because they changed privacy policy?". I really like Signal, but yeah. WhatsApp at the another level that couldn't be changed in some privacy assaulting policy changes.

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