I just want a solid texting platform, that's it. So far I've been happy, even with a few unnecessary updates like stickers (?!) and disappearing messages (ugh).
Most people want features, convenience,… real stuff that feels like feature, instead of abstract concepts.
People have a strong desire to imitate and one-up others in their social group.
If you build a feature that even 1% of users self-start to use, then the social network can snow ball that with the right mechanics. And these feature need only be used by 20-30% of users for it to be considered a success. Every user is not expected to use all features.
I'm pretty bearish on Signal for this reason. (even though I use it personally)
The playbook for unlocking adoption would be via a 'minority rule' where Signal users refuse to talk to people on WA, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
What would you think?
That somebody certainly values the choice of platform higher than your convenience to chat with him or her.
Constant growth and expansion isn't always a good thing and IMO it applies here.
Because ideally one doesn't want to be forced to donate data to Facebook because of WhatsApps network effect?