“Pedro Albañil” has seen your State. Yes, friend, we've all been there. WhatsApp is that tool that is as necessary as it is annoying; For many, it's like applying sunscreen before going to the beach: at the moment it annoys you, but then you realize that you need it. In this mixed bag we discover that any of our contacts can see our Status and, when this happens, we wonder... What are they really for?
We traveled to Madrid to discover a surprising utility that gives true value to the function. Mauro Fuentes —the well-known @fotomaf on Twitter— advances it to us casually : “The doorman [concierge] of my building is digitalized and notifies us through WhatsApp Stories , olé for him,” he writes. Wait, can WhatsApp Statuses have a real function beyond knowing who has gossiped about your vacation photo?
- “Mauro, we have to talk about your goalkeeper,” I attack him unexpectedly.
And agree. The questions are piling up. How it all started? Everything had its origin in a first State published by the caretaker of this community of neighbors in the capital of Spain. We do not know if it was the first, but Mauro shared it on Twitter announcing that his doorman was “going digital”: “It is to inform you that the cleaning of facades, pool and garbage cans will be carried out in the mornings,” we can read in one of his entries. .
It must be recognized that this is a real use of a function that you might assume to be trivial. We wanted to approach the WhatsApp blog to understand what use they expected in the company:
“Status is a popular tool for sharing ephemeral updates with friends and close contacts on WhatsApp.”
And we have stayed the same, but this is not bad: the company offers the platform and it is the user who decides how to use it.
Helpful, but non-invasive communication
“It is a pretty good way to reach the neighbors without disturbing them,” explains Mauro, the neighbor and influencer who has uncovered the activity of this concierge, “he uses the stories and not directly messages, so we do not receive any type of notification and we enter Let's see when we are interested." And the beginning is very interesting. No one is bothered with a message, but it is the neighbor himself who, voluntarily, accesses the status to see the news in the community.
And what does the goalkeeper communicate? The advantage of being a communication that does not 'raid' neighbors' WhatsApp is that it gives you much more freedom to add content. It must be remembered that, by configuration, States disappear after twenty-four hours, so whoever wants to see it can do so, and whoever doesn't can ignore it. In this sense, this illustrious neighbor points out that the janitor reports on any matter that affects the community: works, cleaning (“today he told us that he has cleaned the streetlights,” says Mauro), scolding for those who do not dispose of garbage properly…
The delicate management of privacy
The community, delighted with the format, “from what I have been able to hear,” indicates our informant. Now, this professional walks the edge—as Mauro informs us—when it comes to privacy. Sometimes he uses this format to announce the arrival of packages:
- “The neighbor on 5th A has received two packages”
The idea is good, no doubt, but the rest of the neighbors know that the resident of 5º A is a shopaholic if he receives packages weekly.
What is the border between information and privacy? Personally, I wouldn't be very happy if the number of packets received were indicated per neighbor, but, on the other hand, it would be a shame not to take advantage of this format. What if it were indicated that neighbors 'x' have received packets?
Genius and figure: this is the concierge we all wish we had
But let's forgive, for the moment, the thorny issue of privacy. This goalkeeper deserves a special mention for having adopted this format to inform the neighborhood.
The idea came from himself, “he has a lot of initiative and creativity,” says Mauro, and it seems that he is achieving the impossible: neighbors of all ages have signed up for the “daily report” of community incidents.
The truth is that this goalkeeper did not warn of his plans to use this communication format: he just started doing it. In this sense, our informant admits that the change was not traumatic: “It did not cost me anything, although it is true that I did not warn that he would start using that method to communicate.”
They already knew the alternative: signs in the elevator, “and I almost never use it.” The new channel seems to attract more and more followers despite encountering a major obstacle: not everyone uses states (and many do not even know they exist).
For these seconds, “word of mouth has spread quickly” and those who previously did not even know the existence of ephemeral messages now look out every morning to check the pulse of the community. This innovative concierge is achieving a tractor effect and showing in an educational way what well-used Sta
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