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

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5506173

by nashequilibrium • 13 years ago

3 8 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

dylanhassinger• 13 years ago

small tight networks > vague diffuse ones

mschuster912• 13 years ago

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)

hknews070413• 13 years ago

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.

mschuster912• 13 years ago

...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.

Sujan• 13 years ago

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.

ibudiallo• 13 years ago

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

webstartupper• 13 years ago

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.

kstenson• 13 years ago

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 :)

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

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