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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 8 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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d3vmax ◴[17 Jun 25 06:18 UTC] No.44296182[source]▶
Alice Newton-Rex, head of product at WhatsApp: “Alongside of private messaging, people were saying they wanted to hear more about topics, teams and organizations across WhatsApp.”

- I am pretty sure NO ONE asked to hear about more topics and organizations across whatsapp.

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_Algernon_ ◴[17 Jun 25 06:32 UTC] No.44296234[source]▶
Translation: After going through a far too large number of focus groups that didn't want it we finally found one that phrased a reply in such a way, that after removing context and playing Chinese whispers up the management chain, can be interpreted as them wanting ads.
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1. averageRoyalty ◴[17 Jun 25 11:18 UTC] No.44297781[source]▶
Australian?

We're one of only a few countries[1] who call the game Chinese Whispers.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_game

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2. ben_w ◴[17 Jun 25 11:33 UTC] No.44297871[source]▶
Not the OP, but FWIW I'm British and we also called it that in the late 80s.
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3. arrowsmith ◴[17 Jun 25 12:13 UTC] No.44298173[source]▶
Don't we still call it that now?
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4. megaloblasto ◴[17 Jun 25 12:53 UTC] No.44298546{3}[source]▶
It's telephone now
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5. tialaramex ◴[17 Jun 25 13:00 UTC] No.44298624{3}[source]▶
As with "Chinese Fire drill" (referring to disorganised and chaotic efforts) the problem is that it's racist. Not like mid-20th century US "People who look different are the enemy" level racist, but it's still objectionable.

So we should avoid doing this, "Telephone" is a perfectly good name for this idea, and it's not racist. There are lots of small changes we can make, which make the world slightly better for everybody.

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6. ben_w ◴[17 Jun 25 13:07 UTC] No.44298713{3}[source]▶
Dunno, the people I know only played it in primary school. And I left the country in 2018.

Words can change meaning a lot in a lifetime. Not too long ago, someone here called me out for saying "transvestite", which was a surprise given one of my favourite comedians called themselves an "executive transvestite": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_to_Kill_(Eddie_Izzard)

And my mum, when her Alzheimer's was already bad but not quite bad enough she couldn't live in her own home, referred to the cupboard as a "glory hole" — I'd never been aware of meaning #9 until she used it so, "(Scotland and Northern England) A deep built-in cupboard under the eaves or stairs of a house used for general storage, particularly of unrelated or unwanted items stored in some disorder": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glory_hole

Still, could be worse, as I found out when my grandmother used the word "Irish" in the derogatory sense: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Irish#Adjective

7. arrowsmith ◴[19 Jun 25 07:34 UTC] No.44316371{4}[source]▶
I'm 34 and I have never heard anyone in the UK refer to this game as "telephone" (although I'm aware that that's what Americans call it.)

Is this what the kids say now? Am I getting old?

8. averageRoyalty ◴[20 Jun 25 23:20 UTC] No.44333036{4}[source]▶
You've made a gross assumption about the etymology of the term. There are multiple theories about the origin, some of the racist and some of them not.