My neighbor of 67 came to me, a little panicky, she asked me if I could help with her martphone problem. She had bought a herself a smartphone for the first time in her life, and now there was no WhatsApp on it. As I am the Smartphone-guy in our neighbourhood I fixed the problem for her.

Do I need WhatsApp?

My neighbor does not need a smartphone, but she needs WhatsApp. All her friends have WhatsApp, her daughter, and in a less then a year her grandchildren. She was regularly askewd to drop a ‘Appje (a message via WhatsApp)and when she tells that she is not using this application people are reacting with disbelieve.
She has SMS, but that service has gradually become socially unacceptable in the Netherlands.

My neighbor must use WhatsApp else she gets into a digital social isolation

How well did you do as a company that people experience social pressure when not using your application. This social pressure (well, among others) ensures that 1 million users a day downlod the appllication of WhatsApp.

While SMS was in the hands of these different providers, but the digital communications on our smartphones is largely in the hands of a large commercial company called Facebook.

How well has Mr Zuckerberg played this game. He bought Instagram, WhatsApp and made his messenger a stand-alone product. Apart from that he runs the largest Social Network on our planet.
He owns communication as we know it. very clever and a creepy thought

Tomorrow I will travel to my hometown, it is my fathers birthday. In my pocket a brand new smartphone as a present. It is his first, he does not need a smartphone, but he needs WhatsApp because his grandkids wants to send him messages through WhatsApp..