# General Business Category > Technology Forum >  The Many Masks of Social Media. Whatsapp goes down.

## New Perspective studio

Whatsapp went down for a few hours and the many people were so angry. I could not believe the amount of articles I saw on it today. It makes me think we have as a population become somewhat conscious of dependency on social media websites. ( platforms ). Facebook has seen a ton of scrutiny for "making us addicts". I wonder if something like whatsapp doesn't fall in that same class. Even google my business has handles now like twitter. a App where you can communicate/chat with your clients recommend other businesses, favourite businesses, likes, reviews and share your experience via uploading media onto a gmb page as a client.

Gmb and whatapp ( whatapp business ) are startingdown the same road facebook did by making business personal ( which is great ) but as we've seen with facebook ( what they do down the line in terms of expanding and our data ) I wonder if they too  wont be susceptible to that same "forbidden fruit".

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## Xplosiv

I'm glad to say I didn't notice WhatsApp was down.

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## New Perspective studio

> I'm glad to say I didn't notice WhatsApp was down.


 I was on-board with you. I used to use social media and after a few years I dropped it. However in the business that I am in and many others social media has become just as important as having a website. If it weren't for that I wouldn't have known either.

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## AlexisRoberson

I use WhatsApp GB version but never had such a case

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## adrianh

My family relies very heavily on Whatsapp. My wife is in the UK, my brother in Namibia and my sister in Australia. I keep tabs on my daughters in Cape Town using Whatsapp as well.

When my daughter rolled her car she called me via Whatsapp from the roadside. When my brother got robbed in his house 3 days ago he called me via Whatsapp. 

When anything happens in our neighborhood we communicate as a group with armed response in real time. A guy had a fit a couple of days ago and  the lady put out a call for help on the Whatsapp group - the neighbors went to go help, the armed response went and they also contacted an ambulance.

 When a vagrant enters the area and he makes trouble he gets his picture taken and published on the group so that all the residents can be on the lookout.

Don't try to downplay the importance of practically FREE INSTANTANEOUS communication. I can take a video of a break in in real time and get help in real time.

Social Media might be K@K but Whatsapp has saved our @sses many many times!

I would call the bank in South Africa via my cellphone and get my daughter to call my wife in the UK via Whatsapp. I would sit with the two phones facing one another so that my wife can speak to Capitec - She can't get through to Capitec from the UK directly most of the time.

I am not pro Whatsapp (I am pro instantaneous audio and video communication) If Whatapp turns to crap then we will all switch to Telegram.

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## ians

IF you are not paying for the service you are the product ... it is that simple ... just because the providers promises not to use you as the product ... it doesnt stop them from selling all your info to other services.

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## New Perspective studio

Whatsapp will do exactly what Facebook has done except try and avoid the mistakes they made on Facebook and do it better, they already have online stores integrated onto the platform, they tried to launch it in brazil but were met with opinions from the government regarding taxes. 


They tried to force new policies on users which met strong push back so they just forced it onto Facebook advertisers, it's all about getting more data. Whatsapp is Facebook and Facebook doesn't give a  ... we know that much so it will be the same thing here except a different face. 

Then will come the ads it will be the WeChat of the west. Where you do everything via WhatsApp and so everything about you is known even if you avoid Google and Facebook. 

Google never got any proper foothold on the sm platforms - G+ was probably its only real try - but yes GMB is their answer for now it seems. 

Im not pro WhatsApp im not really that much against data issues, to be honest. Although I get why people are, my main thing here is the monopolies of the internet. It only leads to fewer jobs, smaller free markets, less proper freedom of speech ironically, we can be fed how the world looks according to our data points,  and yes less privacy. 

People are more aware now, I don't think enough yet to jump ship to say Telegram when it goes down that way, but these companies are also aware of that. 

These tools are as Elon Musk said, they make us superhuman as we can reach anywhere, get any info. There is a price though. 

It's a shame there wasn't more regulation.

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## Blurock

WhatsApp is an irritation to me as everyone and his dog wants to send RFQ's and orders via WhatsApp.
People are too lazy to send an email with the necessary documentation attached i.e. specs of the product that they want or a proper order document.

Without the correct specifications it is easy to quote on the wrong product due to the multiple combinations of attachments or assemblies. Not receiving a proper order and responding on it has multiple risks and potential miscommunication.

As far as I am concerned this is for private messaging and should not be used for business purposes of procurement etc. Call me old fashioned if you want to.

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Andromeda (17-Sep-21), New Perspective studio (16-Sep-21)

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## ians

Blurock you are old fashion ... most of my communication 80% with supplier and customers is via whattsapp ... in fact I am considering moving to a new supplier because my current supplier will not allow counter sales to receive my whattsapp orders ... I have request that they allow someone in the company to receive my order ... otherwise I will be moving on. 

I dont have time for crap like emails while on site ... in fact one of my biggest wasted time issues is the dealing with wholesalers ... to a point that I am considering starting a 60 minute site deliver ... like checkers.

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## New Perspective studio

> I dont think so about it. I think WhatsApp has a great future after new update.



It will yes, we won't. Look at the damage Facebook has caused society, it CANNOT even be measured.

Whatsapp will be even greater, I will get Flak for this, il also say I told you so in  few years but.... it's online communism.

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## adrianh

> Whatsapp will be even greater, I will get Flak for this, il also say I told you so in  few years but.... it's online communism.


Wha ha ha hahahahaha  - This made my day coming from a Tech Website / Design company *THAT HAS A CHAT WITH US VIA WHATSAPP ON THEIR SITE!!!!!!!!*

I think I cracked a rib laughing at this lot!

Thanks man... I really had a good laugh.

On a serious note:

*Communism definition*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

LoL - So what is Facebook, Instagram, Google and all the other big player scumbags?

This is what they are:

*How Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft wage a domestic War on Terror, and make billions* 

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/534939-big-tech-911-profit/

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## Blurock

> Blurock you are old fashion ... most of my communication 80% with supplier and customers is via whattsapp ... in fact I am considering moving to a new supplier because my current supplier will not allow counter sales to receive my whattsapp orders ... I have request that they allow someone in the company to receive my order ... otherwise I will be moving on. 
> 
> I dont have time for crap like emails while on site ... in fact one of my biggest wasted time issues is the dealing with wholesalers ... to a point that I am considering starting a 60 minute site deliver ... like checkers.


I agree I may be behind the times, but I just hate all the apps and doing business on my phone. Can you imagine the frustration of communicating via WhatsApp if you do not even know who you are talking to? Unknown  number not in your address book asking for stuff that he doesn't even have the faintest idea of? When a complete stranger without a name sends a WhatsApp request he gets moved to the back of the queue as mostly it is a guy just "fishing" and not interested in real business. I killed the alert as it is distracting and an intrusion in my work day.

At least if a guy has a decent business he will have a signature at the bottom of his email with his business name and tel number so that I can see who I am dealing with. It is so easy to plan for tomorrow or the week ahead so that you can get your supplies in time. Last minute "emergency" orders always create problems as stock may not be available or some unforeseen obstacle may pop up. As all orders are fed into a computer, capturing is so much easier if sent by email.

The worst is voicemail. Impersonal and most of the times inaudible. I try to build personal relationships with my clients and customers as my business rely on their support. Therefore I like to talk to them to get feedback as well.

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## ians

Download whattsapp app to your computer ... go to settings ...  link device scan the code and you bingo ... you can communicate using the computer.

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## ians

Another free tip ... go to waste centre and buy a roll of 50 mmm velcro ... R20 per meter.

Cut piece 50 mm long ... stick the soft side to the back of the phone or whatever ... and the hook side to the anywhere you want to store your phone or what ever ... in a cupboard when you charging ... on the wall in your office ... I put it under the light switch in my workshop ... otherwise my phone disappears into the piles of crap on the work benches ... even on the dash of your car ( I would be careful that the heat doesnt make the glue soft and come off ... put somewhere it can drop into a cubby or something.

The 50 mm velcro sticks like shyte ... I am yet to have something fall of the the wall because of bad adhesive ... it pulls the paint off the wall if you try remove it.

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## ians

I do the same with remotes

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## adrianh

Whatsapp is no different to having 2 way radios at hand - One has to manage the process. The biggest drawback for me with Whatsapp is that people message whatever crap comes to mind immediately and thus don't think their ideas through. My daughter and her company are back n forth via Whatsapp all the time day and night. I told her many many times that they should have scheduled meetings (even on Whatapp) so that people can prepare and then focus for the meeting time.

Whatsapp is a focus killer - I had to get rid of an employee that would work with the phone in his hand having conversations all the time.

The problem is not Whatsapp per se - it is the inability of modern day people to focus on one thing at a time -  Imagine if the brain surgeon had a phone in his hand all day faffing with 50 parallel conversations whilst operating on a patient.

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## adrianh

> I agree I may be behind the times, but I just hate all the apps and doing business on my phone. Can you imagine the frustration of communicating via WhatsApp if you do not even know who you are talking to? Unknown  number not in your address book asking for stuff that he doesn't even have the faintest idea of? When a complete stranger without a name sends a WhatsApp request he gets moved to the back of the queue as mostly it is a guy just "fishing" and not interested in real business. I killed the alert as it is distracting and an intrusion in my work day.
> 
> At least if a guy has a decent business he will have a signature at the bottom of his email with his business name and tel number so that I can see who I am dealing with. It is so easy to plan for tomorrow or the week ahead so that you can get your supplies in time. Last minute "emergency" orders always create problems as stock may not be available or some unforeseen obstacle may pop up. As all orders are fed into a computer, capturing is so much easier if sent by email.
> 
> The worst is voicemail. Impersonal and most of the times inaudible. I try to build personal relationships with my clients and customers as my business rely on their support. Therefore I like to talk to them to get feedback as well.


Put TrueCaller on your phone. It recognizes 99% of numbers and displays the name of the person or company when the phone rings (It also recognizes Whatsapp names and numbers so you know exactly who you are dealing with)

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## ians

I got crapped on by a customer for not answering my phone ... apparently he tried to call me 6 times ... I was working on his site. 

When he returned to site he had a go at me ... and I informed him that I dont carry a phone on me while working on a site ... same with staff on site ... the customer pays by the hour. 

My response was simple if you are happy for me to spend time on my phone while working on the site ... I will gladly carry and use my phone while on his site ... his response ... no it is fine I will call the office next time and ask them to relay a message to you .. that what I thought he would say.

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## Justloadit

I have the same thing with some customers, where they phone the office

Customer     "I want to speak to V....."
Receptionist "Sorry but V.. is busy right now, can I take a message?"
Customer     "NO!, give me his cell number"
Receptionist "Sorry I can not do that, can I take a message"
Customer     "What damn business is this that you can not give me his cell number?"
Receptionist "Sorry sir, can I take a message?'
Customer     "Oh x%&$"
Puts the phone down.

What customers do not understand, when I am doing some development, and have my hands near 300 to 500V D.C., I do not want to be interupped OK!
If it is urgent, let the receptionist know, and she will relay the message, but they you are going to have to wait a little bit until I am in a safe zone again. 
Don't they get it!

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## adrianh

Communications is at OUR convenience - WE make the rules.

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Justloadit (18-Sep-21)

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## Blurock

> Put TrueCaller on your phone. It recognizes 99% of numbers and displays the name of the person or company when the phone rings (It also recognizes Whatsapp names and numbers so you know exactly who you are dealing with)


TrueCaller does not tell me if Joe Soap has a business or whether he is that irritating little man from Hong Kong who wants to sell me an investment. I have blocked him so many times but but they change numbers and mask it to look like a local number. When I am working on a big project I do not have the time to answer stupid questions and answer "surveys" which is a new way of trying to get your attention. 

I am old fashioned. Send me an email with your request and a signature so that I can see who I'm dealing with. 
I will get back to you ASAP or filter you out and block you if you are a spammer.

as you said 


> Whatsapp is a focus killer


 and an unwanted interruption in my work day.

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## New Perspective studio

> Wha ha ha hahahahaha  - This made my day coming from a Tech Website / Design company *THAT HAS A CHAT WITH US VIA WHATSAPP ON THEIR SITE!!!!!!!!*
> 
> I think I cracked a rib laughing at this lot!
> 
> Thanks man... I really had a good laugh.
> 
> On a serious note:
> 
> *Communism definition*
> ...


Yea that's kind of the point though isn't it?... we are forced into it, even those of us who despise it, because it is what clients want, so we are in fact part of the problem. 
Thanks for your input and im glad I could give you a laugh.

Perhaps there is a better word for censorship, collective ownership, central planning, presenting an illusion of a "common good", propaganda    ...  for now, I leave it communism though.

The link you posted is new info to me it doesn't surprise me though.

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## adrianh

> Yea that's kind of the point though isn't it?... we are forced into it, even those of us who despise it, because it is what clients want, so we are in fact part of the problem. 
> Thanks for your input and im glad I could give you a laugh.
> 
> Perhaps there is a better word for censorship, collective ownership, central planning, presenting an illusion of a "common good", propaganda    ...  for now, I leave it communism though.
> 
> The link you posted is new info to me it doesn't surprise me though.


I tip my hat to you - Very well put!!!!!!

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## adrianh

Another thing that annoys me about Whatsapp is this: People no longer rely on their own memory - they dump it on other people.

I have a ToDo list on my phone - If I working and I think that I should phone so an so about something I put it on my to do list. If I need to buy something I also put it on my list.
The list is used to log all the stuff I have to deal with.

Some people, like my one daughter doesn't use a list - she tries to use me as her list via Whatsapp - "Dad I need Tabard", "Dad I need this or that" etc. That goes for customers too - They would message at odd hours with some of other request that just popped into their brains.

This mental laziness to keep track of their own to do lists gets pushed onto others. I see how this happens in my daughter's work - they sit on Whatsapp popping half baked messages back and forth because they do not make lists and of course the ideas are not thought through. A list gives one time to think the topic through before sending it or discussing it.

So the lesson is this with messaging apps like Whatsapp - Be careful not to try and replace your own to do list by pushing whatever pops into your brain onto others - THEY ARE NOT YOUR EXTENDED MEMORY!!!!! WELL I AM NOT - I can't even keep my own crap straight!

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## Blurock

> Yea that's kind of the point though isn't it?... we are forced into it, even those of us who despise it, because it is what clients want, so we are in fact part of the problem.
> Thanks for your input and im glad I could give you a laugh.


No, we are not forced into it. Make a stand an refuse to be bullied into receiving half baked messages on WhatsApp.
I do not want to deal with unprofessional people who are too lazy to send a proper Purchase Order or request for a quote. 

I see that some Body Corps now also send out these lazy half baked messages. It's OK if it is just a general communique such as "there will be load shedding from 10 am" etc, but if it is e.g. a request for approval to pay or do something, it has to follow the formal procedures. Businesses and all juristic bodies require a paper trail to be kept as record of transactions. That is why WA is crap in a business environment.

Yes, I am old fashioned, but the customer is not always right. If you are too lazy to do the paperwork, I'm not going to do it for you.

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## adrianh

> No, we are not forced into it.


This isn't fair on @New Perspective studio - He said that AS AN IT COMPANY he is forced into enabling the service because that is what his market wants. He also said that he personally despises it.

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## adrianh

All the communication systems have one serious drawback - there are too many of them. I am sitting here fretting because I know I got a message from a prospective client yesterday which I read - I thought that I would reply today. I can't for the life of me remember whether it was via....1 of 3 email addresses, 1 of 2 Facebook addresses (personal and work), Whastapp, Telegram or SMS or Telepathy  :Whistling: 

Stupid stuff... there are so many options that the information gets lost between all the different systems...let alone folders and blockers and stuff....

Eish....

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## Blurock

One cannot be expected to use all the different social media apps. I do not use Messenger, Instagram, and a host of others that I do not even know the name of. Imagine getting a purchase order on Tik-Tok! WTF!  

I want to do business, not play. I give my customers the best service that I can. So keep it professional and we are all on the same page. :Big Grin:

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## Justloadit

The worst is getting an invoice on WhatsApp
WTF, now the effort to print this invoice!
They already were on their PC to send the invoice, why did they not use email?
Email is now accepted as an official form of communication.
There is no back up for WhatsApp unless you specifically set it up, why do I want to back up WhatsApp?
Try and search for a message on WhatsApp? As far as I know there is no search function

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## adrianh

> The worst is getting an invoice on WhatsApp
> WTF, now the effort to print this invoice!
> They already were on their PC to send the invoice, why did they not use email?
> Email is now accepted as an official form of communication.
> There is no back up for WhatsApp unless you specifically set it up, why do I want to back up WhatsApp?
> Try and search for a message on WhatsApp? As far as I know there is no search function


I do find Whatapp on the PC to be very useful. It is one of the fastest ways to move information between people. I do work for an Industrial Designer and he is out and about all the time. I often capture 3D renders of projects on the PC and just send them via Whatsapp. We sometimes connect via video when we need to discuss parts etc because we can do show n tell.

I do agree though that sending invoices and orders etc is not nice - Like you said - at least with email you have better data retention and security.

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## Blurock

Now the buggers are getting too lazy to type, so they will send you a voice message with lots of background noise so you can't hear a thing they are saying. Why send a voice message if you could have phoned me and get an immediate reply?

What the hell is wrong with people? :Confused:

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## Justloadit

> Now the buggers are getting too lazy to type, so they will send you a voice message with lots of background noise so you can't hear a thing they are saying. Why send a voice message if you could have phoned me and get an immediate reply?
> 
> What the hell is wrong with people?


Can't agree with you more.
WTF - So if I am in a private place, I can't listen to the damn message! Cheeze whats wrong with them critters?

If they are such cheapskates, then give you a WhatsApp voice call. After all the cost of data is negligible.

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## adrianh

Maybe on should return the call from the public restroom - hopefully they'll get the message :-)

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## Blurock

> Maybe on should return the call from the public restroom - hopefully they'll get the message :-)


A Morse code fart?  :Oops:

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adrianh (24-Sep-21)

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## adrianh

> All the communication systems have one serious drawback - there are too many of them. I am sitting here fretting because I know I got a message from a prospective client yesterday which I read - I thought that I would reply today. I can't for the life of me remember whether it was via....1 of 3 email addresses, 1 of 2 Facebook addresses (personal and work), Whastapp, Telegram or SMS or Telepathy 
> 
> Stupid stuff... there are so many options that the information gets lost between all the different systems...let alone folders and blockers and stuff....
> 
> Eish....


I found the mail....I have loads of filters set to move mail into various folders and this customer happened to mail me from his official Capitec email address so his private hobby question got shoved in my Capitec business folder.... eish...people shouldn't use their official email addresses for private business...it really confuses the issue.

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## mightytrader

Can't imagine how life would be without social media.

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## adrianh

So now the whole family is switching to Telegram after Facebook took down 90% of international Social Media for 6 hours yesterday - I hope Facebook gets broken up (considering that it should never have been allowed to own all the platforms in the 1st place)

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## ians

When I realised whatsapp wasnt working ... the first person I thought of was Adrianh ... rubbing your hands together with a grin on your face  :Wink:  

So where to from here ... telegram ?

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## Justloadit

According to the news, Facebook blamed a configuration issue directing the requests to all three platforms being Down. 

Really! is this the best they could come up with?

So the question really is - Where they hacked?

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## adrianh

> According to the news, Facebook blamed a configuration issue directing the requests to all three platforms being Down. 
> 
> Really! is this the best they could come up with?
> 
> So the question really is - Where they hacked?


It looks like they messed up their own DNS configuration on their backbone.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...massive-outage

They will probably blame the Russians or the Chinese or the man in the moon...

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## adrianh

> When I realised whatsapp wasnt working ... the first person I thought of was Adrianh ... rubbing your hands together with a grin on your face  
> 
> So where to from here ... telegram ?


Yes we installed Telegram on all the devices - we will switch over to Telegram permanently - Enough with Facebook and their nonsense.

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## galileo

It was a wonderful time, isn't it? Seeing all social media being down. Kidding. It was bit horrifying not knowing what is happening for a while.

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