So what arguments would you make for BBM over the competition?
The reason I'm asking is I don't get why it's any better. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but I don't particularly see any huge benefits over the other ones and I see some disadvantages. I do like the check (sent), D (other phone received), R (other person has seen) markers, but many chat apps do read receipts now too. I like group messaging, but everything else does that now too.
I understand that BBM is more secure, but if the NSA or anyone else reads my messages, they'll probably be bored out of their minds.
One of the big reasons I'm asking is because I pretty much FORCED a bunch of my friends to join BBM. They used it on and off with me (and only with me). I then tried to get a group thing going for sharing pictures. After a while, ALL of them complained about how unintuitive BBM was and how lousy it was with group picture sharing that they forced me to install Whatsapp (which I was reluctant to do but did so anyways because it's not really fair to force other people to install an app they don't want to install and refuse to do the same when they ask you). Now they moved one of the group discussions from BBM to Whatsapp. I have a feeling they're going to rarely use it now if they use it at all.
From what I've seen the flaws of BBM are
- No sharing of anything but voice messages in group chat. To share other files you have to go to groups. Groups in BBM are confusing (relatively) and they don't work too well in iOS/Android versions. Groups are more for serious collaboration vs just simple sharing pictures with a group. This is done better in pretty much every chat app. Though for serious collaboration, BBM is the best (though... honestly those who are using BBM not for work don't need that).
- Emoticons aren't as nearly as fun as stickers.
I don't really see any big advantage that would make my friends start to use it again regrettably. The only advantage I see over Whatsapp (which I only just installed 2 days ago) is Whatsapp says they'll charge after a year.