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by georgiecasey 1883 days ago
> since it is the de-facto SMS standard in my country.

Same in my country, I don't think Americans (or the American tech culture) realise how ubiquitous WhatsApp is in Europe and around the world.

3 comments

In the UK, I’ve basically only used WhatsApp for sms-type communication for the past 4 years. Actual SMS is for one-time passcodes and automated messages from my bank and doctor.

Previous to that, I was in Australia where practically nobody used WhatsApp, favouring iMessage or Facebook messenger.

Messaging app adoption is highly localised.

There are a lot of things that are "ubiquitous" but I still wouldn't voluntarily use. Between this thread and the YouTube one today, and countless other ones in the recent past, there seem to be a growing number of "Xyz app is bad, but I won't stop using it" threads lately. I mean, talk about being part of the problem and not part of the solution. Whatever happened to "Be the change you want to see in the world?"
I'm in a European country and no one uses whatsapp here. I have it but only to talk to foreing friends.