

Ask HN:Why do teenagers use kik/whatsApp over Facebook chat? - nashequilibrium


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webstartupper
I have not used Kik. I use WhatsApp. I would think the following would be
reasons why WhatsApp scores over its competitors.

1\. No need to log in - WhatsApp uses your phone number and a hash of your
IMEI number as credentials to log in to their app. Although this means that
your account could be compromised, its ease of use is therefore unparalleled.

2\. No need to authorize people to add you - this means that if you have
anyone's phone number, you already have them on your contact list. If I had to
choose one reason for WhatsApp getting over a 100 million users in a short
time, this would be it. A lot of people find this a privacy issue (including
myself), but most people just don't care.

3\. Sending images and video through WhatsApp is super easy and the content is
compressed.

4\. WhatsApp has restricted their emoticon set - I think this makes a big
difference in keeping the clutter down.

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mschuster91
Whatsapp is a "SMS / MMS" killer app, designed and especially _marketed_ from
the ground up to be one.

Facebook's Messenger is marketed as an IM, not as an SMS/MMS killer. Chat
functionality is still seen as "bolted on" and unreliable for Facebook, so
people turned to alternatives, and WhatsApp is by far the most recommended
solution (peer pressure: if everyone has it, you want/need it too)

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Sujan
Facebook chat is slower and more unreliable. Reloading the chat on mobile
after you sent some messages on another device is quite slow, messages also
take 5+ seconds to arrive in mobile after they already arrived on PC, and this
is on wifi.

The product just isnt as good.

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kstenson
In Hong Kong and mainland china whatsapp is pretty ubiquous,its shown on
adverts and business cards as a contact method. Some mobile carriers make
whatsapp data traffic free on most plans.

Also the big reason in mainland china is that Facebook is blocked there :)

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hknews070413
Whatsapp doesn't care about a "friends list" or "approve friend request". If
you have their number, you can do whatever you want to them. That's ease of
use.

~~~
mschuster91
...which is why I don't use it. I don't like the idea that anyone having my
number can easily see whether I'm awake, have my cellphone on, etc.

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ibudiallo
I use it because I closed my Facebook account 9month ago and I most of the
people I want to talk to have whatsapp

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dylanhassinger
small tight networks > vague diffuse ones

