Some years ago there was the option of paying, which was removed around 2016. I understand that not everybody cares about this, but PLEASE give me the option not to see ads. There's enough bullshit advertising in my life already
[] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/whatsapp-...
http://www.erlang-factory.com/upload/presentations/558/efsf2...
(Cue "I haven't used any new feature since e2e encryption")
Make it subscription based, with a low bar of entry ($10 or so per month), don't do ads, don't do data harvesting (unless required by law enforcement) and/or "science" (for profit), guarantee freedom of speech (as long as said speech is protected by law, ofcourse) -- in other words: don't become Zuck -- and you will outcompete Facebook come 2025.
The hardest part with any IM service is going to be convincing your friends to join though. I wish someone came up with a good way to overcome this "critical mass" problem.
Many switched, including the least technical people I know. A few did not. It's really not hard; you just have to draw a line in the sand.
As a result of everyone I know using Signal, it fundamentally doesn't matter to me if the "mainstream" switches. We're already all on board.
Ask me how I know.
Installing an app is more than a 2 minute commitment. You also have to be OK with that app running on your device.
An average person will have pages of apps installed, but that would actually use only what's on the first page. So they have a choice of bumping something off their precious FP to fit my special app or just keep it where it lands after installation, on the back pages. And if it ends up there, out of rotation, it won't see much voluntary use.
How do you handle dumb/feature phone users?
All of these have a very important aspect in common: you can choose your application you want to access the network with. I'm tired of needing to use The Official®©™ App, and Signal is no exception. It's also a single entity thus being a single point of failure.
If you really want to make a difference please try to make people to migrate to something open. Quicksy[^1], DeltaChat[^2], something. But not another, essentially closed platform.
[^1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.quicksy.cli...
[^2]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=chat.delta
I've done the opposite: there's no way I'm going to install a messaging app, and everyone I care to interact with knows they need to either use SMS or email to reach me. Everyone's been perfectly fine with that.
People do migrate when the platform is FUBAR.
There's not that much friction in changing to (or simply adopting a second) chat app - especially one which uses your phone number as an identifier.
It actually started as a one-line status app, a bit like finger for the mobile era. Hence the name.
It was only when they discovered that users were interactively chatting by changing their status lines in response to each other that WhatsApp pivoted to full chat.
A good example of adapting to improvised user behaviour.
Messaging apps are definitely one of those situations where I expect things to work all of the time, not just most of the time.
I used it with a group of friends but one of them often didn't receive our replies.
For me personally, this will be the moment to draw a line and just tell people to text me instead, or use another service...