Like it or not, there are segments of the messaging market who are tied to Whatsapp very deeply. The likelihood is they’re also the people who are regular and heavy users of Instagram and/or Facebook. Well there’s good news on that, Whatsapp is testing (in their Beta program) the ability to share status from Whatsapp to Instagram, Facebook Stories, Google Photos and Gmail.
Many users will be hesitant of this, back in 2014 when Facebook purchased Whatsapp there was a lot of concern around whether data would be shared and users privacy.
The Verge reports that this is showing up for some users, but not requiring accounts to be linked. The expectation is that the Android “share” API is being utilised, which gives you full control over what data is being shared between apps – A great idea!
Even if you share data to another Facebook-owned service like Instagram, WhatsApp says the two posts will be separate events in Facebook’s systems, and they will not be linked.
It does highlight the questions as to whether Whatsapp are trying to drive more users to the status screens where they’re showing adverts. Regardless of your drivers, users will still have the option to engage or not and (in theory at this time) not change any decisions you’ve made regarding your data privacy.
WhatsApp can’t be trusted now Facebook got its hands on it.
When you use a messaging service you want privacy. But Facebook is a company famous for selling your name and details to political groups in exchange for cash.
For messaging, a better option is Signal. It’s non-profit, open-source, all conversations are encrypted end-to-end, and it doesn’t let police or governments snoop on your stuff.
And that’s exactly the problem that maintains the status quo. People simply hate change. Further, the success of Google is proof despite what people may say about privacy they are betrayed by their actions. For most people nothing beats free.
I say this as an active financial Google user.