Is This The End For WhatsApp?

On January 4th, WhatsApp released an update to its privacy policy. In this new policy, it was blunt towards what all user information it collects automatically and what all information it has access to.

Honestly, it included a lot of data that a normal user like me wouldn’t want to share.

WhatsApp now has access to information like-

“the features you use like our messaging, calling, Status, groups (including group name, group picture, group description), payments or business features; profile photo, "about" information; whether you are online, when you last used our Services (your "last seen"); and when you last updated your "about" information.”

…along with other user-specific information, especially your interaction with a business or any information that would be required by a business to release a targeted WhatsApp marketing campaign.

This change scared numerous users and many looked for secure alternatives of WhatsApp. Two alternatives – Telegram and Signal – found this change to be especially beneficial.

Telegram is a cloud-based encrypted IM app developed by Pavel Durov, which is considered to be user friendly and non-intrusive.

Signal is another app, developed by the co-founder of WhatsApp after he left Facebook. The app boasts its state-of-the-art end-to-end encryption which found its way to woo privacy-wanting users.

Both the applications are as good as WhatsApp and have the ability to become the new number one IM application.

But WhatsApp will not fail.

At worst, its future will be what SMS are today. It’ll be on your phones – for formal conversations, to connect with businesses, and to get notifications.

So, why would it not fail?

Well, not everyone cares about privacy anyway. If they did, they wouldn’t be using Google’s OS that tracks what they search, where they go, what websites they visit, what music they like, and what interests and hobbies they have.

Currently, what the world is seeing is an impulsive trend where not many people even know why WhatsApp’s privacy policy is something to be concerned about.

But this will come to an end and people will get back to using WhatsApp.

Why?

Because of the network effect.

2 billion users use WhatsApp. Even if 500 million move away from it. They’ll need WhatsApp to connect with those who don’t. WhatsApp has built its value with the number of users it has on its platform, which can’t be copied, not in a short-term.

Then there’s the psychology of ownership. Just like how children are unwilling to exchange their toys for new ones but are willing to grab a new one without exchange, it’s the same with adults. Users have emotions attached to WhatsApp which will make it hard to uninstall it. Moreover, most people just can’t let go of their saved conversations on WhatsApp, for obvious reasons.

Besides this, the biggest reason for people to move away from WhatsApp will also be a big reason to stay with it.

Businesses.

Till date, most businesses use SMS services to communicate to their users. This communication, no matter how effective, lacks interaction. People look for ways to connect to businesses. They want to have conversations with them, ask questions, give feedback, and make complaints. Whatsapp will make two-way conversations with businesses happen.

This is disruption by catering to the repressed demands.

Even though people resist the change for now, they’ll soon weigh the pros and cons and get back to the IM application.

And as mentioned before, at worst, WhatsApp will become what SMS are today. But it will not fail or get uninstalled.

So, what do you think of the new privacy policy? Do you think it's really the end for the IM giant? Let's discuss in the comment section.