[samaspire]

Whatsapp, for me, is a very useful business tool. Not indespensible, but saves me a lot of time and money (time=money).

I am a graphic designer, and the fastest and most direct way to share images and PDFs is WhatsApp. As it's all pervasive, there is no learning curve for my customer.

web.whatsapp.com is a boon as I just have to drag files into whatsapp on my PC to send design proofs for approval. Inversely, my customers also reply back with corrections, additions, etc. The only time I need to look at my phone during office hours, is when I need to answer/place calls.

Other than that, it is a great way to keep in touch with friends, cousins, relatives and business associates.

To overcome the negatives, I have taken the following steps:

- Muted all group notifications

- Switched off auto-downloading of images and video. This has saved me the pain of emptying my phone once a month.

- Made rules for some groups to avoid spam. Eg. My auto club group does not allow any post unconnected to automobiles. My family group has banned politics.

- I do not comment on any group unless I have something substantial to add. Unless it's a joke, or a funny comment

[noopster]

Nice thread. Amazing how quickly attitudes to a technology platform change these days...had this thread been started 3 years ago, I suspect the responses would be a lot different.

Some nice points captured by everyone who's posted here. From my experience, Whatsapp helps in the following ways:

• Family intimacy: Sharing pics, videos of events & milestones across immediate family spread (in my case) across 3 Indian cities and 2 more overseas
• Old boy network: Access to local alumni, planning reunions with old school buddies etc. is so much simpler. Though this is happening since Orkut days, Whatsapp offers much more intimacy and engagement
• Small business applications: Need a bathroom fitting replaced? Simple- just Whatsapp the plumber a photo! Selecting a cake for your kid's birthday? Ditto!
• Money transfers: In a post-demonetisation age, taking snapshots of PayTM or account transfers and Whatsapping them across serves as a valuable memory aid.

[dailydriver]

Thanks everyone for sharing your views and experiences. My take on this necessary evil:

Pros:

1. Connects me with long lost acquaintances.

2. Enables easy communication with immediate family and close friends by way of sharing personal pictures/videos, achievements, concerns, happy and sad events.

3. Living in a small town away from Bengaluru, WhatsApp helps me keep in touch with happenings of my head office. Government Orders, Notifications and Official communication reach me in real time.

4. Communication with people living abroad has become really easy and inexpensive.

5. Has helped me put across my points of view with enough evidence and supportive arguments. Would have failed to do it in a face to face interaction.

6. Some groups have really helped unearth my hidden potential/passion. In a Kannada literary group that I am part of, I get to read excellent original works of literature - poems, short stories and opinion pieces penned by people from a wide spectrum of the society.

7. Once in a blue moon, I get to read a brilliant message or a rib tickling joke.

Cons:

1. Most WhatsApp groups are junkyards of forwarded/recycled messages.

2. Rumour mongering has found a new avenue via WhatsApp.

3. Some long-forgotten, unpleasant memories are triggered by a random picture/comment in groups.

4. As a corollary of 3, you share the same virtual space as some of your old nemesis, flames, enemies - people whom you would not normally even be in the same room with.

4. Screen On Time of my mobile has increased considerably, necessiating more frequent charging of battery.

I always disable auto download of media. I also mute all notifications. I look at WhatsApp only when I am free. Emergencies are still routed through the normal, fully paid phone call.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Fb/whatsapp are not designed for sharing knowledge that can be looked up later. These are platforms where the attention span is really short.

And that's where Orkut had a distinct edge over Facebook. You could easily search old threads. WhatsApp was even worse than FB until they came out with the "Quote" feature.

Also, in these platforms, 99% people are content consumers and only 1% are content creators. This is a great loss in my opinion.

Unfortunately this is slowing filtering down to TBHP too where the contributors are now significantly less than the consumers. The official reviews are now big contributors as well as the discussions on these reviews. The DIY section is the next big contributor.

Originally Posted by aargee

After realizing WA is a mere waste of time & energy,

Not if you use it wisely.

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is not an option for many, since key customers insist on using whatsapp for all project updates and notifications.

+1 to that.

Originally Posted by Turbo_Charger

What I hate is the unnecessary disturbance it creates with the barrage of Good Morning, Good Evening & Good Night messages. Icing on the cake is the repeat forwards sent by same or different senders in same or different groups. Most of the content is either copied from facebook or twitter.

This is most irritating. However there are some groups where the admins are quite strict on forwards and jokes. Not surprising that these groups are automotive related.

Then there are the relatives & cousins who won't take no for an answer or will mind if you don't respond to their "quizzes, questions" or other silly posts.

Most irritating quizzes are those which only geniuses can answer. The ones like 3 Cars + 2 Dogs = 1 Orange. Find out how many cars and dogs you need to get 4 oranges.

Originally Posted by samaspire

Whatsapp, for me, is a very useful business tool. Not indespensible, but saves me a lot of time and money (time=money).

Same here.

To overcome the negatives, I have taken the following steps:

- Muted all group notifications

- Switched off auto-downloading of images and video. This has saved me the pain of emptying my phone once a month.

- Made rules for some groups to avoid spam. Eg. My auto club group does not allow any post unconnected to automobiles. My family group has banned politics.

- I do not comment on any group unless I have something substantial to add. Unless it's a joke, or a funny comment

Simple and effective.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

1. Connects me with long lost acquaintances.

Only possible if you have their contact number. I fould FB and Linkedin more effective for this.

Originally Posted by GTO

Has definitely affected the lives of telecom companies by taking away SMS revenue .

Really makes me happy as the Telecom companies looted us for years.
The original quote and your reply above would actually make a nice "message" to "forward" via "WhatsApp".

[aargee]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Not if you use it wisely.

Unfortunately wisdom comes with age & experience & it takes time to understand that; most crowd learn this over time & most undergo this.

[narayans80]

Having used WhatsApp for the last 5 years. I also feel there are lot of positives I could talk about:

- Has been the prime communication tool with my better half, I keep the entire conversation history. Sometimes even search forgotten appointments and life events this way. Also was handy sharing photos, videos on the fly.
- Interaction with my personal banker, colleagues. Heck once I even pulled off a colleague from nowhere due to an E-Down.
- No advertising clutter.
- Forwards are primarily in groups, and these are permanently in mute. Some I directly go and clear chat straightaway

When it was a paid app, I even paid for a year or so before it became free.

Originally Posted by aargee

Unfortunately wisdom comes with age & experience & it takes time to understand that; most crowd learn this over time & most undergo this.

That's correct. However it applies to any internet tool, not just WhatsApp.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by narayans80

That's correct. However it applies to any internet tool, not just WhatsApp.

What I quoted earlier must be more than fair enough

Originally Posted by aargee

Like the proverb goes, anything used within limits is always good. Even excessive intake of amruth is also is poisonous for health

[Thad E Ginathom]

I just want a way to disable this new "status" page!

There is a simple (although requires root and editing a config file) hack on XDA, but it does not work on latest versions.

What a shame Whatsapp fell into the Zuckerberg pit.

[GrammarNazi]

Facebook & WhatsApp seem to be designed to make people impatient & impulsive. I have found that people who're infrequent users of WhatsApp to be more emotionally stable & committed.

IMO Distance is good. Time away from someone heals wounds. Disconnect encourages an ability to think intuitively to sort problems, it helps develop courage to take independent decisions.

Over-connected world, this. In the name of connecting a few, its often isolating people from the world. We're taking it a step further with VR & AR.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Facebook & WhatsApp seem to be designed to make people impatient & impulsive.

Over-connected world, this. In the name of connecting a few, its often isolating people from the world.

Perfect. The world needs to slow down a little.

[carwatcher]

Why I used smileys coz if the above statement is true then I must say all these conspiracy theories must be true about many things we come across.

I doubt the developers did that much 'planning'. The reality is that use of connectivity, be it mobile, internet, chat, etc all have made people restless.

Like we had cellphones, Digital Cameras, Walkman, etc getting smaller and smaller, WhatsApp is also a portable version of Social Media and nothing else.

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Facebook & WhatsApp seem to be designed to make people impatient & impulsive.

I found WhatsApp in my profession (Interiors Contractor) as extremely crictical as it helps in co-ordinating with Client, Architect and Site Engineers almost on real-time basis.

Second important use is to have a group of immediate family members even if messages are posted not so frequently. (My personal opinion)

Friends groups etc are not so important and can be made or joined as per preference.

I have lived my life without FB but WhatsApp is inevitable.

[pedrolourenco]

Since we are discussing WhatApp, I have a question? A bit OT as it's not regarding the impact on my life but something technical which probably some of you guys will be able to help me on.

I have 2 phones (Android & iOS), 2 phone numbers and 2 WhatsApp accounts and I have some WhatsApp groups on both.

Phone 1 (iOS)
Number: (94xxxxxxxx)
WhatsApp Groups (A, B, C, D)

Phone 2 (Android)
Number: (94xxxxxxxx)
WhatsApp Groups (E, F, G, H)

Phone 1 is for Family and close friends and Phone 2 is for everything else. The WhatsApp groups were also distributed according to this usage.

Now I feel the need to move WhatsApp Groups F&G from Phone 2 to Phone 1. My phone number in the group will also change to the number of Group 1. How to do it?

One option would be to tell the respective group Admins to remove phone number 2 from the group and add phone number 1 to it.

Any other way without having to wait for the admin?

[binand]

I use one-one-one WhatsApp to ask quick questions; and I encourage others only to do the same (send me daily Good Morning posts two days a row and you get blocked the second day). It is not meant for things that require more than two dozen words to explain; for those I call people or require them to call me.

I keep my groups membership to a minimum. Two family groups, two alumni groups, two apartment groups and two groups related to childrens' activities. Most groups are in "Mute" state.

I also have a group in which I am the only member; I use it to take quick (voice) notes that I once in a day or so move to my main task-tracking application. I still haven't mastered WhatsApp's Google Now integration (if it exists), so right now I just have to wait till the next signal. :-)

[dailydriver]

No marks for guessing where I got this cartoon from.

[CA Dhruv]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

No marks for guessing where I got this cartoon from.

For many of us it should be TEAM- BHP instead of whatsapp.