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Comment by keyrat | Hacker News Reader

Seeing this on HN, the first thing I focus on is WhatsApp. But if you read the article, this is a story that could play out on many networks in 2021; it just so happens WhatsApp is the most popular.

In my town, in the US, WhatsApp also plays a large role in civic life, commerce, rumors, etc., for better or for worse. It does feel like the medium is the message, but all the alternatives seek to more or less replicate the medium.

There is something to be said about WhatsApp being so integral to this story, but if you read the article, that's not really the story.

Anywho, we have pretty good mangoes here either way.

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That's interesting. I was under the impression that Facebook filled the group chat niche in the US.

If you had any international contacts, then WhatsApp was the no brainer when it came out because it was the best cross platform messaging solution at the time. The only people who did not use WhatsApp were people who did not have international contacts (or maybe used WeChat, but I am not familiar with those social circles).

There's pockets of everything.

Facebook owns WhatsApp now, so . . .

From the article, it mentioned that WhatsApp lets users make free international calls. Not sure if that distinguishes it above other comms channels.

There is no “international” calling distinction when using the internet. FaceTime audio, Google Duo/allo/whatever, Skype/Teams, WeChat, and I’m sure there are plenty of other apps that let people communicate via audio.

Indeed. I've even used Discord to good results while traveling internationally, find any cafe or hostel with WiFI and you're good to go.

WhatsApp just had more time to get entrenched, I think.

WhatsApp is the main method of communication in some countries.

Where I live my most recent experiences interacting with businesses after a short phone call is switching to WhatsApp. "Do you have WhatsApp in this number?".

I'm not surprised that mangos can be ordered via WhatsApp. Like a friend of mine works in a purchasing department in company, and the last two cars the company bought were negotiated via WhatsApp.

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