User to user, BBM users send and receive a lot more messages
than WhatsApp users and are also far more engaged - almost half of BBM messages
are read within 20 seconds of being received. And here's why.
It’s no secret that I prefer BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) over WhatsApp. My
WhatsApp status says, “Prefer BBM.” But perhaps some among you might think I
prefer being a dinosaur and stick to BBM, even as the world takes to
WhatsApp.
So I decided to make a list of why I preferred BBM, and this is
especially important now, because in a few days from now, BBM should be
available on Android and iOS smartphones. On September 6, BlackBerry fan site
Crackberry.com reported that its been over two weeks since BlackBerry has
submitted the iOS app to Apple. And BBM on Android is already in beta.
But let’s look at some numbers first. In June 2013, WhatsApp claimed
over 250 million monthly active users. Compared to that humungous number, BBM in
May had a measly 60 million monthly active users and 51 million daily active
users. Game over for BBM then? Throw in the towel and forget about launching on
Android and iOS? User to user, BBM users send and receive a lot more messages
than WhatsApp users and are also far more engaged. Reuters Not quite, because
when you consider that WhatsApp seems shy of revealing daily active users. And
when you dig a bit deeper, you find that while WhatsApp claimed a record 27
billion daily messages per day sent on June 13 this year, BBM handles 10 billion
messages each day, which BlackBerry claims is nearly twice as many messages per
user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps. So, user to user, BBM
users send and receive a lot more messages than WhatsApp users and are also far
more engaged — almost half of BBM messages are read within 20 seconds of being
received. And here’s why:
Getting Ds and Rs right: Perhaps the biggest reason why I
prefer BBM is the Delivered (D) and Read (R) signs next to each message. If a
message hasn’t been delivered I don’t see a blue D and till it is read I don’t
see a green R. Now, surely some of you are wondering what’s unique about that?
Doesn’t WhatsApp have the two tick marks that perform the same function? Here’s
WhatsApp’s dirty secret – the two tick marks don’t stand for Delivered and Read.
Don’t believe me, check out WhatsApp’s own
FAQ. The single tick mark stands for message delivered to server and the
second tick mark stands for message delivered to device. So, if you’ve been
upset with your husband for not responding to your message despite the two ticks
and you are assuming he has read it but is busy flirting with someone else,
chances are he has not. Or maybe he has read it, and is actually flirting with
someone else. While BBM can’t tell you if he is indeed cheating on you, it can
tell you with certainty that the message has been read and not just delivered.
Security: BlackBerry despite the terrible sales figure
remains King of security, and BBM, thanks to BlackBerry’s awesome security
heritage is light years ahead of WhatsApp on this critical front. This was
brought home to me in a painfully personal way a few weeks ago. A real-estate
broker added me and many others to a group he created. Without asking any of us
of course. Since WhatsApp is phone number based, anyone who has your number can
add you. Problem is, it exposed my name and number to others in that group. Now,
as a 38-year old overweight male, I doubt I’d be the target of sexual harassment
but on that group I saw the names of numbers of some ladies and within hours
everyone was scrambling to leave the group. But someone could always write down
a name and number and harass later. That’s a massive security hole and primarily
because WhatsApp uses phone numbers. BBM in comparison uses the device PIN or
user ID for Identity. In contrast, BBM has a far more elegant system where
without you authorising another user, he/she cannot send you messages. And if
you delete that user, he needs to send you another authorisation message which
you have to approve. No need for embarrassing conversations on why you’ve
blocked someone, as in WhatsApp
source:Biztech2
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