WatsApp, the nice and the vice

The other day, I was texting my sister, who is thousands of miles away in Africa. She was telling me how freezing it was and how everyone was wearing long coats and all that. Within two seconds she sent me an image on WatsApp. I saw what she was talking about. Woow! Technology has advanced. Before, if she wanted to send me any image, she had to e-mail it, because MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) doesn't allow any images outside the borders of the country in which they are sent from.

WatsApp is fast taking over from Facebook, in terms of interactive and synchronous communications, it is a system that only requires minimal and affordable internet connection (it uses existing internet data on the user's device). Minimum requirements are a smart-phone or equivalent, mostly iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, Nokia Symbian60 & S40 etc. The other advantage is that it is a mobile phone-based application. Considering the number of people who have mobile phones around the world, including in the third world countries in Asia and Africa, surely this new App on the block is one to be watched.

It usually costs me about €10 to make a call of about 7 minutes to my native Africa, WatsApp has become a cheap alternative by coming in as a text and visual based channel. Now I can say all via text, audio message, video clips and images. That saves €10 We have seen how fast funny, controversial and breaking-news video clips travel on sites like Youtube, but that is only limited to traditional computers and other capable smart-phones like iPhones. With WatsApp, videos go viral within seconds and they can go as far as remote places whose people do not have access to computers. The video clips sent using this Application are compressed in size for easier transferability and downloadability.

WatsApp can also be of use in a business environment. I know and understand how sceptical businesses are in jumping into new technology. Remember a few years ago companies use to sack employees for using Facebook. These are the same companies who are now using Facebook as their primary medium for marketing, IR and PR purposes. With WatsApp, users can conduct a meeting where they will be texting and sharing images, video and audio files through the App's group facility, saving the organisation 1000s of dollars in logistical and related costs of setting up a meeting.

Unlike other communication platforms that we have seen in the market like Facebook, Twitter to name but a few, WatsApp is easy to set-up, if a user who has it sends you a link, you can download the App from it (provided that you're using a compatible handset) and you are done. From the application's contacts section, you will be able to view which of your contacts are already using the application. You can also invite those contacts that are not yet using the application. Recently, WatsApp updated its application, including bringing in an improved profile management, that includes the ability to add your photo in your profile.

Like many other Applications and software in technology, WatsApp is not without its perils. Privacy, security and codes of ethics can easily be breached. Just a few days ago, I received a video clip of what looked like “child versus child” sexual abuse. Whilst that may have been just another funny clip for other people, it raised concern on my behalf. First, the two minors on the clip may not be aware that the video has gone viral and is all over the world, obviously without their consent. Even if they knew, they are minors who, by standard law, cannot grant legally acceptable consent to such. The video clip may cause great harm to the parties involved, that includes their current and future families. Once a file (video, audio, image or text) has been despatched, it is impossible to take back. WatsApp may block the future transfers of a file, but they cannot take back what has already been shared.

Then there is another issue of unsolicited messages. Everyday, I receive (and probably send) hundreds of messages from other WatsAppers, and those messages may have sexual or vulgar content. There are also spam messages that even threaten you with death or misfortunes if you do not forward to a certain number of people. The most disturbing for me is that while this Application is bridging the gap in information society, it is, on the other hand, opening up gaps and loopholes in controls as to what may be shared. My daughter is 14 and she uses a BlackBerry phone. She has this Application and we use it in the family for sharing files and texting. The risk is that she is also open to the dangers I mentioned above, ie, files of sexual, vulgar and any other inappropriate content. I do set-up content filtering in her computer, e-mail account and phone just to protect her from the marauding vile environment that technology brings, but her security is not guaranteed.

Still with teenagers, (and adults of course), WatsApp is very popular for sexting or sexamessing. (the two terms above are the new words that mean wilfully texting messages of sexual content.). WatsApp offers an all-in-one facility in that it can send audio, image, video and text. This had been almost impossible with standard SMS and MMS because of price and other restrictions. So our kids are open to abuse.

The onus lies with parents, teachers, guardians, church and community leaders to provide protection to their children, but the problem is that most of the children are miles ahead as far as technology know-how is concerned. They (parents) have little or nothing at all they can do to stop this wave, and while technology companies can do something, all they care about is profits, leaving the society to perish in the raging blitz of technology.

Refs: http://www.whatsapp.com

Mbonisi is a student with a local UK University in the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology.