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Hello You,
A private social network, dedicated to “real relationships
Neeraj Arora and Michael Donohue, two former WhatsApp executives, have just launched HalloApp, a messaging service in the form of a social network. The mantra that can be read on the presentation site of the application? “Imagine your friends were your real friends. HalloApp. The first real relationship network. Real people. Real life. In real private. With no ads.” In short, things are clear. They want to offer a communication tool between friends, which is real, without ads, without news feed, all with encrypted conversations that guarantee confidentiality. In other words? Simply focus on relationships, without interruptions of any kind.
A response to the criticism of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram
The approach is not trivial. There are more and more former WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram managers who are questioning the way these tools work. We saw some of these whistleblowers on the report “The Social Dilemma” (to be found on Netflix).
A user experience similar to WhatsApp
Concretely, this application is available on all download platforms to date. Once downloaded, nothing revolutionary in itself. The design is quite similar to what we are used to seeing with Whats App, as well as similar features (conversion to 2 people, group conversations, etc…). The real difference comes rather from the management of the application itself. No advertising, encrypted exchanges. Another essential point? In order to guarantee the authenticity of the exchanges, it is possible to contact a person only by knowing his phone number. In the end, this translates into a simple, intuitive application, a flow that is easy to manage, and no sorting and prioritization of the information you receive.
An application made by experts
The two founders of HalloApp have a background that makes them real experts in the field. Neeraj Arora was in charge of business development at WhatsApp. He was at the forefront of the company’s takeover by Facebook. Michael Donohue was WhatsApp’s CTO for almost nine years. In short, they all know how the application works behind the scenes, and how to optimize its efficiency. In view of what they are announcing, they would also be able to take only the best from a user’s point of view, eliminating everything that is controversial. To be sure, only time will tell.
A word of mouth that starts to have an effect
Logically, the application did not choose to go through massive communication and advertising campaigns to make itself known. No, it has favored word of mouth, and it is starting to take effect. The two founders have not yet responded to the media, explaining that they want to focus on the development of the application and the quality of the service rather than its promotion. In short, if the application becomes known it will be thanks to the users themselves.
An application committed to its users
The founders of HalloApp are not into half measures. According to them, traditional social networks are the “cigarette of the 21st century”. Logically, their application is the antidote. A promise that is beautiful and that begins to seduce many users. It remains to be seen if it will be well kept and respected in the coming years.
The economic functioning of HalloApp
Today, most of the revenues generated by social networks come from advertising. So what will be the business model of the HalloApp application? On the same principle as many applications we use today: some features are free, others are paid. In other words? The company plans to get paid through subscriptions. This is, in fact, the way it was originally planned for WhatsApp, before it was bought by Facebook in 2014.
