Modernisation Coach

Rich Communication Service, Genmoji and nod with AirPods

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I use WhatsApp Channels to keep you informed about my classes. Here's how they work, and why they're great to use compared to email or WhatsApp Group chats.

I am guessing you're already familiar with chats on WhatsApp. These are displayed when you select Chats frrom the bottom. What I am telling you about, Channels, are not found here. You need to select the first option, Updates.

In updates, at the top we see status updates from our contacts. Then we see the channels we are following. In this example Bollywood Bhangra, WhatsApp, Fit with Bhangra, Stay Modern and more, are all channels where I receive updates. If I select WhatsApp, this is what I see.

The WhatsApp channel is a great place to stay informed about how WhatsApp overall is improving and better ways to use it. Let me draw your attention to the top-right, where you see a bell, which a strike through it. This means I have disabled notifications. You can choose to enable or disable notification at each channel level, which is great, because some of them might post many times a day.

What are the benefits to you for receiving updates through channels, instead of as one to one chats, group chats or broadcast messages - which are all available on Whatsapp.

The number 1 benefit is related to privacy. When you are a member of a group chat, all the other members can see your mobile number and name. You might not know those people from Adam, so surely you don't want to subject yourself to such privacy risk? In a channel, you don't need to worry. If you have the mobile numbers of other members, you will see them in the channel members' list. Otherwise you won't, and no one will see you. I think that's pretty cool.

The second benefit is that channels are quick to follow. Compared to email subscription lists, which you need to provide your email address each time. And there is often a 2 or more step process to unfollow email subscription lists. With WhatsApp Channels joining is through a link, and unfollowing is quick and secure.

Finally, compared to email, where if you receive links to videos, or audio, you have to click out of your email client. With WhatsApp Channels, the videos and audio can be experienced directly within WhatsApp, again making the experience quick and elegant.

If you never plan to create a channel, you can ignore this part. Or you might just be interested, maybe you'll create a channel for a purpose one day. Here are the benefits.

First, compared to creating groups on WhatsApp, by using Channels, you are mitigating any data protection risk issues that could come your way. Keep this in mind, that WhatsApp groups are designed for people that already know each other. However, time has moved on, and these days large numbers of people that don't know each other are being added to groups, or they are joining them, without contemplating the risk of exposing their mobile number to many strangers. You might think that you are just creating groups for a community purpose, but that doesn't protect you from any litigation action. For as long as you are using some sort of brand name, and you are connecting strangers who can see each others' mobile numbers, and you haven't asked them formally for permission to do this, you are making your self open to legal action. The safest way to keep large numbers of people informed about your work, events, and other updates, is to use a WhatsApp Channel. Then if people meet up, you might encourage them to use a group, since they are not strangers anymore.

The second benefit is that following and unfollowing is frictionless. You don't have to gather peoples' email addresses. You message people the Channel URL, or ask them to search for it, or maybe even create a QR code, and people can follow the channel quickly.

The next benefit is that your channels support rich media really well, such as animated gifs, audio and videos. Without the recipients needing to open up another app. For example, YouTube videos play directly in Channels, and WhatsApp will keep working to support many integreations.

The next benefit is less fumbling, when comparing to email. My observation is that many people really struggle to keep on top of their emails, and yes it's true that all disorganised people will struggle on email and so will struggle on WhatsApp. However, look at most email clients such as Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, and I hope you'll agree that they are archaic and cumbersome, full of features and leave people feeling overwhelmed. WhatsApp Channels give people a nice way to receive many updates, which are richer than emails, and more like chats, compared to the formal and old-fashioned style of emails.

The last benefit I'll focus on is that WhatsApp channels are free, at least for the forseeable future. When comparing this to email, using a platform like Mailchimp will easily cost you 20 or so dollars per month, and this cost rises really fast for thousands of email list subscribers. But if you have hundreds, thousands or even millions of people following your channel, you don't pay a penny.

One weakness I want to outline is that you can really see how many people are engaging with your WhatsApp Channels, unless they react with thumbs up, etc. Whereas, with Mailchimp and other email list platforms, you can track people's open rates, what they're selecting etc. But, you pay much more for that. Choose wisely.

I use WhatsApp Channels to keep you informed about my classes. That's how they work, and why they're great to use compared to email or WhatsApp Group chats.

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Microsoft Loop will distrupt the way we colloaboration at least as as much as Microsoft Teams.

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I've got my preview access to Microsoft Loop. It's been super cool to have a play. This will step up the game in hyper-collaboration. In this podcast I describe the value of Microsoft Loop and what my experience, so far, has been of using it.

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Do you remember where you were, that time when you, and other people on different computers, were able to edit a document at the same time? It probably was Google Docs, am I right?

Cloud computing moved us from needing to send files to each other, which many of you still do, come on stop now... and instead keep those documents on a web application, such as Google Docs, Word Online and maybe thousands that have sprung up. The two major benefits of using cloud computing in this way are:

Optimized collaboration, each person in their own time, is using the correct version.
The documents are optimized to be accessed across devices, such as a desktop, laptop, and small form factor units.

Yet something was missingOver the years, as this method of collaboration in the cloud has become more commonplace, one issue has remained. Many of us continue to rely on email, and we've simply replaced file attachments with hyperlinks. Either way, we need to come out of our email, to go somewhere else, even if that somewhere else is another internet browser tab.

If you can't beat them, join them... everywhereImagine if in the same way as many of us work on Google Docs, or Word Online (and all the similar cloud apps) instead of needing to open up an internet browser, the document is right there, in the email!. Like seriously, no need to jump out of the email. Whether you're the originator, the first recipient, or the 20th recipent, each person sees the correct version... but in their email. 🤯 Mind blown?

Meet Microsoft LoopMicrosoft Loop is being tauted by many as a Notion killer. Notion, cue my overly simplified explanation, has been similarly disruptive as Google Docs. Google Docs started by replacing a word processor, meaning there has always been this underlying design intention that these documents are meant to be printed. Notion is web and device centric. It looks and feels more like an interactive web site, than a modern word processor.

The early renders, from a year ago, of Microsoft Loop show it as looking quite like Notion. In the last few months, Microsoft introduced the early parts of Loop known as components. First to Microsoft Teams. And more recently to Microsoft Outlook for the web.

What might we use Microsoft Loop for?I want to be able to use Loop with my client work, but I am not yet sure if that will be possible, as it looks like its best used within an Office 365 instance (i.e. internally only). I anticipate using it for things like roadmaps, task lists, plans and other documents that are likely to change fairly quickly.

I also imagine using it for sales pitches. I would draft something to then share with a manager, or managers, sales and other colleagues, so that we can achieve agreement asynchronously on the pitch; before presenting it to the client.

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I explain my experience with ChatGPT, and how this is going to disrupt knowledge work.

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Can you say with confidence that you know the difference between an emoji and a reaction, and why does Generation Z don't like thumbs-up emojis?