Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?

[Anyar Bakalin]

Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?

I don't get what it does that an SMS app doesn't do for free?

[Poutnik]

Dne 28/11/2015 v 20:20 Anyar Bakalin napsal(a):

> Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?
>
> I don't get what it does that an SMS app doesn't do for free?

I have never used it,
neither I know personally any other European using it.

They usually use Facebook, Skype, Viber or other chat application.

It is more convenient than SMS,
also some cross provider SMS messaging is not free,
or uses advertisements.

--
Poutnik ( the Czech word for a wanderer )

[Anyar Bakalin]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2015 20:44:05 +0100, Poutnik wrote:

> neither I know personally any other European using it.

Thank you for this information.
The Italians I just visited *all* use it.
I don't get why.

They want *me* to use it (to communicate with them), so I installed
it, but it's only free for a year and then I'll have to either pay
or get closer friends! :)

But why do the Italians all use it?
Why not just use SMS?

[s|b]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2015 19:20:31 -0000 (UTC), Anyar Bakalin wrote:

> Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?
>
> I don't get what it does that an SMS app doesn't do for free?

I'm from Flanders, Belgium, and almost all my friends and family use
WhatsApp, mainly because it's free and an SMS is not. True, some people
have a subscription and they can send a certain amount of SMS messages
each month with paying extra.

But other people (like me or my young nephews) only pay what they use
and have /no/ subscription. So using WhatsApp is certainly cheaper than
an SMS. One (national) SMS costs me 7 (euro)cent and I'm pretty sure
international costs /more/, even if it's within the European Union (this
should change... in 2018 or so).

So cost is one thing. Another thing is: you can send images, movies and
sound through WhatsApp. You can't do that with an SMS, you need MMS,
which costs even *more* than SMS.

Another thing: WhatsApp got "famous" /before/ Facebook bought it, so I
think people were more trusty to give their cell phone numbers to an
app. So a lot of people use it and new users are almost obliged to
install it to communicate.

Keep in mind that when I say WhatsApp, I mean the use of the app while
being on *free* WiFi. I don't know if using a 3G/4G network to use the
app is cheaper than an SMS. Again, I'm talking about users who have no
subscription. The latter get for instance 2GiB/month included in their
subscription.

--
s|b

[Poutnik]

Dne 28/11/2015 v 21:21 Anyar Bakalin napsal(a):

Have you asked them ?

--
Poutnik ( the Czech word for a wanderer )

Knowledge makes great men humble, but small men arrogant.

[Anyar Bakalin]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2015 21:58:39 +0100, Poutnik wrote:

> Have you asked them ?

Of course.
They use it because everyone they know uses it.
But that doesn't explain why everyone they know uses it.

[Anyar Bakalin]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2015 21:51:39 +0100, s|b wrote:

> Keep in mind that when I say WhatsApp, I mean the use of the app while
> being on *free* WiFi.

That brings up a good question.

Does SMS/MMS work over WiFi?

[The Real Bev]

Much like facebook, which is becoming increasingly annoying.

--
Cheers, Bev
============================================================
"To liberals, building a wall across the Mexican border is a
violation of the Voting Rights Act." -- Ann Coulter

[Poutnik]

Dne 28/11/2015 v 23:52 Anyar Bakalin napsal(a):

Once it gets spread, it dos not matter what was the reason
for the spreading. Wide usage is a good reason itself.

And the primary reasons will be like s|b says.
It applies to other communication SW as well.

SM is good for one time one way messages.
Communication SW is better for the dialogue.

[Poutnik]

Dne 28/11/2015 v 23:53 Anyar Bakalin napsal(a):

No, it does not, as it is way of communication with cell towers.
It can work only if there are used SMS internet gateways.

But SMS via gateways are not always free
and are often with advertisement.

[s|b]

On Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:53:48 -0000 (UTC), Anyar Bakalin wrote:

> That brings up a good question.
>
> Does SMS/MMS work over WiFi?

Skynet/Belgacom (one of our providers) used to offer free (sending of)
SMS through their website, but I don't think that's an option anymore.

BTW MMS is hardly used; it has never been very popular. Too expensive, I
guess, maybe too complicated for the "older" generation? Although... I
just checked and apparently SMS and MMS now have the same price: 0,07
euro.

But my mother has a subscription (15 euro/month) and this allows her to
send 10.000 SMS messages each month. So for her, it doesn't really
matter: SMS or WhatsApp.

--
s|b

[Whiskers]

On 2015-11-28, Anyar Bakalin <abak...@us.ibm.com> wrote:
> Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?
>
> I don't get what it does that an SMS app doesn't do for free?

Interesting question. Not least because this European has never used
WhatsApp and doesn't know anyone who has.

I suspect the division between those who use it and those who don't has
a lot to do with who has a smartphone or tablet that can run the app and
whose friends and relatives also have the right kit, and who among them
has 'free' or very cheap reliable internet access nearly all the time.

Smartphone users who spend a lot of time within range of their home WiFi
or the 'free' WiFi of cafés or other places they trust and can log into,
might find an internet messaging service useful - if all the people they
want to swap messages with are in the same category. But many of the
people I exchange text messages with have no smartphone, and those who
do are often out of contact with the internet either because it doesn't
exist where they are or because it would cost 'too much'. Meanwhile we
have monthly mobile phone 'plans' that include some large number of
'free' SMS messages - so that's the preferred medium in my circles.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[babebi]

>> neither I know personally any other European using it.
>
> Thank you for this information.
> The Italians I just visited *all* use it.
> I don't get why.
>
> They want *me* to use it (to communicate with them), so I installed
> it, but it's only free for a year and then I'll have to either pay
> or get closer friends! :)
>
> But why do the Italians all use it?
> Why not just use SMS?

To understand, you first need to know which kind of phone plans are
offered in Italy: for most people, it is a prepaid fare where for some
money (say 7€) you get a fixed amount of _inland_
phone traffic/sms/traffic data (say 200 minutes/200 sms/1Gb)
You have an vast number of different plans which changes constantly, but
this is the idea.
If you finish your prepaid traffic, then everything becomes quite expansive.
This means that sms can become a real black hole for your prepaid credit.

Given that you don't pay internet traffic (that is: instant messages)
when you are at home (in the sense that probably you have a flat
connection), when you are at work and when you are at a free hotspot
(café, restaurants and so on) and considered that even if you use your 3G
connection instant text messages uses a very small amount of traffic
data, this explains you that on the whole using an instant messaging app
makes you save a lot of money, since instant messaging is the most popular
way of getting in touch.

To this, you must add many advantages of instant messaging apps over sms;
for example:
- messages as long as you please
- multimedia messages
- possibility of using groups

All in all, it is a bit like using emails, but much more immediate and
easy as you just send them like if they where sms.

All this, should explain why an instant messaging app is a killer app in
Italy.

As to why whatsapp over others like telegram for example, there is no
real answer: probably it was the first to get on the scene.
Surely it became vastly widespread. Once everybody you as it, a person
entering the smartphone world is virtually forced to use it to
communicate with others.

[s|b]

On 29 Nov 2015 13:43:06 GMT, Whiskers wrote:

> Interesting question. Not least because this European has never used
> WhatsApp and doesn't know anyone who has.

Aren't you in the UK? If so, you're not really European imho. ;-) Always
doing quite the opposite of what the EU wants. Don't even have euro as
their currency. HA! :-)

--
s|b

[Poutnik]

Dne 29/11/2015 v 18:22 s|b napsal(a):

Europe and EU are 2 different things.... ;-)

[Whiskers]

The UK is as European as Italy is. The different countries in Europe
(and even those within the EU and the Eurozone) all have different local
rules and customs when it comes to mobile phone and internet charging
and provision (and many other things too).

[Chris]

Anyar Bakalin <abak...@us.ibm.com> Wrote in message:

> Why do Europeans almost all use WhatsApp when Americans don't?

That's a gross generalisation. It may be more popular in Europe,
but it's far from common. It very much depends on your social
circle as what communication medium is preferred. My generation
prefers SMS and email. My kids: Snapchat and Instagram

> I don't get what it does that an SMS app doesn't do for free?
>

Mainly because for most/many people sms isn't free

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