• ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    10 months ago

    Why is it that WhatsApp is so big in Europe? My dad is European but lives in Mexico. Only way to get through to him when he’s in Mexico seems to be through WhatsApp.

    In the USA, I think the majority of people that use WhatsApp just use it for international purposes even though there is no rate difference sending a text via SMS.

    • Dnn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Well, it’s big pretty much everywhere except for the US and China. It was the right app at the right time and due to its huge user base it’s virtually impossible to get people to ditch it - even when it was bought by an evil tech giant.

      It does have good and useful features though. SMS doesn’t even allow group chats - that alone renders it utterly useless (I’m just ignoring it being clear text without any kind of security or privacy - those seem to be too abstract concepts for most people anyway).