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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

nytimes.com

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Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#721

Post by jorl17 »

d3vmax wrote: post #426

Alice Newton-Rex, head of product at WhatsApp: “Alongside of private messaging, people were saying they wanted to hear more about topics, teams and organizations across WhatsApp.” - I am pretty sure NO ONE asked to hear about more topics and organizations across whatsapp.

While I definitely oppose ads in WhatsApp, I do know several people who use WhatsApp as a tool to get news, know what's going on in their town and/or community (sports club, etc), among other things. It's their way of being in the know, their reddit, RSS feed, news client, etc. I am sure that no one asked for ads and that people will get very little value out of having ads shown to them. Also, no one went around "asking for ads". Nonetheless, I am also pretty positive many people do want to “hear more about topics and organizations across WhatsApp". In fact, until a year ago I wasn't really aware of just how much people live in these WhatsApp islands/bubbles, but clearly they do!

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#722

Post by agile-gift0262 »

whiplash451 wrote: post #585
landhar wrote: post #562

June 18, 2012 -> https://blog.whatsapp.com/why-we-don-t-sell-ads Almost 13 years to the day! I find it really frustrating that I am not able to avoid using whatsapp due to how popular it is to the point that it’s become the go-to communication channel for most things :/

Indeed. And the worse isn't that we'll have to deal with ads. The worse is that people will stick around despite the ads , which only goes to show how powerful the grip of Meta on our societies is.

... and once they have proof of they power because WhatsApp use keeps increasing despite all the enshittification done in the last few months, they'll feel encouraged to enshittify further in even bolder ways.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#723

Post by dotancohen »

wkat4242 wrote: post #665
palata wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wan…

I don't use the others you mention. Only telegram because many communities are there (it's the only chat app with good group chat functionality) But it's exactly because I already have to deal with too many of them that I don't want to add more. Also I don't like moxie's attitude but that's more of a personal concern that won't apply to most. Like not allowing third party clients or federation and shooting many sugge…

  > But I wouldn't be able to actually move. It would just be yet another one.
Actually, you would. A few months ago WhatsApp had a huge downtime in my country, and lots of people move to Telegram. It turns out, just telling people that you're moving to Telegram, that's enough to get them to move with you. I was already on Telegram, but I saw it happen enough times to be surprised myself.

Just don't keep a backup WhatsApp account around, because then people will use it.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#724

Post by skrebbel »

Does anyone understand why it took them so long? I expected them to load the app full of ads right after they bought it over a decade ago. I mean, WhatsApp is the only Meta product I use and it's sortof felt like a public utility more than a ultracapitalist for-profit "if you're not paying then you're the product" type affair.

I mean, my messages are encrypted, the thing Just Works, UX is great, calls are free despite what I assume is substantial bandwidth and server cost, and so on. Why did they give this away to 2b people for 10 years? Could they really cover the all cost and then some just with those WhatsApp Business API call charges? I mean I love it but I can't say I get it. Thanks for all the freebies Mark!

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#725

Post by arisudesu »

bebopsbraunbaer wrote: post #687
arisudesu wrote: post #671

And so, WhatsApp has reached parity with Telegram in features, in the sense that both now show ads (even though Telegram was initially promoted as always free and without ads, it was the first to abandon this promise and shamefully removed it from the main page). Time for a new messenger, and I don’t mean Signal, but the creation of some kind of old Skype, with a peer to peer protocol. It was very good before Microso…

whats wrong with Signal?

Doesn't it require a central server for communications?

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#726

Post by Lutger »

I was wondering why it took so long for the enshittification to commence in earnest. It already slowly started, with various social media features nobody asked for, but now it is official: whatsapp is dead.

Especially given that Trump already helped so many people move away from Meta, I see the whatsapp monopoly coming to an end pretty soon.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#727

Post by elric »

fsflover wrote: post #656
elric wrote: post #605

Can we get a federated messenger already? Sure, we have email, but the MS/Google duopoloy has effectively unfederated that, with their inscrutable block lists and nonexistent appeals processes, allegedly in order to protect you from spam. Sure, XMPP is a thing, which has been mostly dead for well over a decade. Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor…

> Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor interoperability between implementations? Not sure what you're talking about. Everything is working fine for me, and they even conduct a whole conference about it annually: https://2024.matrix.org/ With a large number of clients and servers and the lack of a walled garden (like with Signal), you will always f…

I'm not talking about the client ecosystem. I'm talking about the server ecosystem. There is only one fully-featured one, Synapse, everything else is in Alpha or Beta, feature-incomplete, or abandoned.

When I looked into writing my own implementation, the protocol seemed underspecified to me. "Do what synapse does" seemed to be the concensus.

This was a few years ago, so maybe things have improved. But given that no new feature complete servers have appeared, I doubt it.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#728

Post by mr_mitm »

reedlaw wrote: post #713
seydor wrote: post #704

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy, expand SMTP. If the target doesn't have smtp messenger, send as email. No need to reinvent the wheel. But who are we kidding, of course we will

Sounds like https://delta.chat/

Forward secrecy and deniability would be nice to have though.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#729

Post by elbear »

ezst wrote: post #429
lurkshark wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a pet theory that the world would be slightly better place if the United States Postal Service had launched a convenient and free (taxpayer-funded) email service before Google: 1. I think folks would be naturally more skeptical of the government than they are of big tech, ideally leading to E2EE for email that's usable by the masses. 2. Phishing and scams could have a dedicated law enforcement arm (Postal Insp…

> 1. I think folks would be naturally more skeptical of the government than they are of big tech, ideally leading to E2EE for email that's usable by the masses. That is so weird to me. "Institutions that exist for the sole purpose of serving the people might end up having some power, so let's instead give it all to the literal oligarchs."

Depends on where you are. In some countries people don't trust institutions unfortunately.

Re: WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

#730

Post by msgodel »

fsflover wrote: post #656
elric wrote: post #605

Can we get a federated messenger already? Sure, we have email, but the MS/Google duopoloy has effectively unfederated that, with their inscrutable block lists and nonexistent appeals processes, allegedly in order to protect you from spam. Sure, XMPP is a thing, which has been mostly dead for well over a decade. Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor…

> Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor interoperability between implementations? Not sure what you're talking about. Everything is working fine for me, and they even conduct a whole conference about it annually: https://2024.matrix.org/ With a large number of clients and servers and the lack of a walled garden (like with Signal), you will always f…

Matrix is crap. If you want a serious alternative use XMPP with OMEMO or just use Email.
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