neeraj arora @neerajarora Twitter profile

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

In 2014, I was the Chief Business Officer of WhatsApp. And I helped negotiate the $22 billion sale to Facebook. Today, I regret it. Here’s where things went wrong:

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Tech companies need to admit when they have done wrong. Nobody knew in the beginning that Facebook would become a Frankenstein monster that devoured user data and spat out dirty money. We didn’t either.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

In order for the Tech ecosystem to evolve, we need to talk about how perverse business models cause well-intentioned products, services, and ideas to go wrong. And where we go from here. An amazing piece by @dseetharaman to start the conversation:

Former Facebook, WhatsApp Employees Lead New Push to Fix Social Media

HalloApp is among the new companies founded by former Facebook and WhatsApp employees trying to reshape online discourse.

www.wsj.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

If you used WhatsApp in early days, you remember what made the product special: International communication. For people (like myself) with family in multiple countries, WhatsApp was a way to stay connected—without paying long-distance SMS or calling fees

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

How WhatsApp made money was by charging users $1 to download the app. And Facebook (said they) supported our mission & vision. Brian even wrote this famous note:

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Today, WhatsApp is Facebook’s second largest platform (even bigger than Instagram or FB Messenger). But it’s a shadow of the product we poured our hearts into, and wanted to build for the world. And I am not the only one who regrets that it became part of Facebook when it did.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

As we began talking through the acquisition, and made our stance very clear: - No mining user data - No ads (ever) - No cross-platform tracking FB and their management agreed and we thought they believed in our mission.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Until eventually, in 2018, right as details of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal came out, Brian Acton sent a tweet that sent shockwaves through the social media stratosphere.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Of course, that’s not what happened. In 2014, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for $22 billion (in cash & stock). But by 2017 and 2018, things started to look very different…

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

FB approached us again early 2014 with an offer that made it look like a partnership: • Full support for end-to-end encryption • No ads (ever) • Complete independence on product decisions • Board seat for Jan Koum • Our own office in Mountain View • Etc.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. 2 years in (2011), I joined the team as Chief Business Officer. And in 2012/13, we were approached by Zuck & Facebook about an acquisition. We declined and decided to keep growing instead. But then…

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

4 years

WhatsApp circa 2011

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Somewhere along the way, social media went seriously wrong. • What we post is rarely who we are. • What we see isn't from people we know. • What we talk about online isn't what we talk about in private. Where can we be ourselves? 🧵👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Thank you, Jan, Brian and the whole WhatsApp team for a memorable last 7years! It is time.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

5 years from now: We are going to look back at the first era of social media the same way we look back on cigarette smoking in the 70s and 80s. “What were we thinking?”

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

How amazing is this?! Well done @PawanKChandana and team!

Skyroot Aerospace

@SkyrootA

2 years

Hello, fascinating earth! View from Vikram-S onboard camera via live telemetry captures exhilarating moments of South Asia’s first rocket launch and the beautiful land we live in. As #Prarambh makes history, our sleeves are up for more excitement to come. #OpeningSpaceForAll

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

In my end of the year app cleanup, I got rid of my Facebook and Instagram accounts #hallo2022

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Group calling 😇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

Hello!

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

Great feature in WSJ this weekend on how @virgilabloh uses @WhatsApp to run his fashion label

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

12 years

Details of the first ever roaming WhatsApp data plan for 3 Hong Kong users - http://t.co/Nnc217Ku

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Privacy is not an option, and it shouldn't be the price we accept for just getting on the Internet. - Gary Kovacs

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

4 months

This is a pivotal moment in Venture Highway's journey that started 10 years ago. A heartfelt thank you to my co-founder Samir Sood for starting VH with me. Grateful to Priya Mohan and the entire VH team for their relentless dedication. To our limited partners and advisors who

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

To learn more about the evolution of weaponized social algorithms, and how HalloApp is giving the power back to users who don’t want to feel manipulated by never-ending feeds, read here:

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

🤣 courtesy @jankoum

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

is #Throwbackfriday a thing?

jan koum

@jankoum

10 years

WhatsApp crossed 1B Android downloads. btw our android team is four people + Brian. very small team, very big impact. http://t.co/sW4F9SlKKv

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

It’s not private if the platform is always listening.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Social media has turned into a digital mall. And you are the product. Instead, we believe in building a platform where you can share freely with people who matter most without any intermediaries. No brands. No ads. No bots. No influencers. Real relationships in real private.

CNBC-TV18

@CNBCTV18News

3 years

CNBC-TV18 @ Silicon Valley | @ShereenBhan speaks with @neerajarora & @michaeldonohue on building a private social network, betting on tech startups & the IPO frenzy. @halloapp

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

This woman entrepreneur is earning millions selling sarees via WhatsApp

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

WhatsApp Blog

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Airbnb for home-cooked food (on WhatsApp) just for the residents of my parents housing complex. Incredible.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Our vision at HalloApp is to build a simple, safe, private place for people to connect and share what matters—with the people who matter most.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

9 years

http://t.co/CFovgMJU85

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Mad respect. So honored to be a shareholder and friend.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

@vijayshekhar

5 years

Today is 9/11. I started @One97 in 2001. Post 9/11 , it was clear there won’t be any hope of VC investment in India for a young company. I ended up raising my series A investment from @SAIFPartners and @AshLilani in 2007! In those Six years, had many days with only one meal. 😇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Social media today is a digital mall. Blinking red notifications. Infinite scrolling feeds. Ads. Bots. Likes. Followers. Influencers. Instead of building tools to bring people together, these tools have torn people apart. Is this really the best we can do?

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Here we go! Really excited to be back in Delhi to introduce this feature to the world.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Company != app

Rajesh Sawhney 🇮🇳

@rajeshsawhney

5 years

Is Facebook dead? I have found FB to be least relevant for me amongst social media like Linkedin, Twitter & Instagram. Yesterday, our digital marketing team decided to not spend anymore on FB due to low ROI. Is it the same for you? Is Facebook, the behemoth, a dead animal?

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

I still remember that a constant feedback from the FB leadership to WhatsApp was to do more things and hire more people. According to them we were overly understaffed. A good day to remind yourself that team size is not directly proportional to speed or output.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Why we are building @HalloApp • Social media is not private • Users should not be treated as products • Algorithms make connecting with people impossible The vision we have for the future of real, digital relationships 👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

9 years

1B active users, 42B messages sent, 1.6B photos shared and 250M videos shared every day.

Techmeme

@Techmeme

9 years

WhatsApp passes 1B monthly active users, says 42B messages and 1.6B photos are shared daily

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Thanks Vidit. For me, it was you and archit plus your guys conviction in your respective ideas that got me excited. Just like some people bet on me many years back, I am trying to pay it forward.

Vidit Aatrey

@viditaatrey

6 years

+ 100! @neerajarora is amazing. He was the champion of our model when almost everyone else rejected us.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Current status

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Somewhere in Canada! #roadtrip #jasper

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Wondering if I should cancel or keep this doordash order.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

“It all started with the icon of a WhatsApp group. A picture of the famed Ranji Trophy was the profile picture of the group formed for communication within the Vidarbha team at the start of the season”

Express Sports

@IExpressSports

7 years

Vidarbha beat Delhi by 9 wickets to lift #RanjiTrophy for the first time. How did it all begin? A Whatsapp group! MORE:

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

#1 growth hack at WhatsApp.

Alfred Lin

@Alfred_Lin

7 years

. @bchesky : Love creates growth, not the other way around. Create a product people love so much they can’t help but tell everyone about it.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

This talk about the history of @WhatsApp by @jankoum is pure gold!

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

9 years

Making WhatsApp free and more useful - WhatsApp Blog

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

#bucketlist #INDvENG #CWC19

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

On @HalloApp , you can. The first Real-Relationship Network. • No ads, bots, likes, followers, etc. • End-to-end encrypted chats - no one can read them (not even us). Now you can be yourself online.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Focus is so underated in consumer tech. Great stuff @AnkushSach @frdahsan @bhanuism

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Getting ready to watch @imVkohli and boys take on England tomorrow #CWC2019

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

बढ़िया कंपनी एंड ज़बरदस्त फाउंडर्स। हैप्पी फ़ॉर @AnkushSach @frdahsan @bhanuism

Venture Highway

@venturehighway

5 years

Congrats to team @sharechatapp for this big milestone. It has been a privilege to be their partner for many years. 🚀🚀

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Mandatory visit.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Yup, totally by design and not chance.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Where are we supposed to have real conversations with real people, digitally? • Social platforms? • Direct messaging apps? It seems no matter where we look for privacy, someone is always "listening." This isn't how trust is built, or real relationships are maintained.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

How do you build for a billion users with 50 odd engineers. Rick talks about the magic at F8.

Meta for Developers - A Look at WhatsApp: Engineering for Success at Scale

Reliability can make or break a viral app. With only a few dozen engineers, the WhatsApp team successfully delivers billions of messages each day. Come...

developers.facebook.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

How Your Phone Number Became the Only Username That Matters | WIRED

How Your Phone Number Became the Only Username That Matters

Guard it with your life, because it is your life.

www.wired.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

Connecting a billion users every day

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

2000 - 2020 to build large social networks. User is the product & business model is to monetize their attention. 2020 - 2040 will be the opposite: Smaller networks, with privacy. User = customer. Business model = user pays to create their network as they see fit.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

WhatsApp Status

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Difficult to describe Jim's impact on WhatsApp in 140. Honored to have worked with him. The best consigliere an entrepreneur/CEO can ask for

jim goetz

@jimgoetz

8 years

thrilled to be transitioning into a new role @sequoia . warm congratulations to @Alfred_Lin @roelofbotha @gradypb & michael-a

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

For years, I've felt this to be a problem. So much so, I stopped sharing important moments online. Algorithms made it impossible to reach those closest to me (they wouldn't even see my posts). Why bother?

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

9 years

More like 480k/sec.

Horace Dediu

@asymco

9 years

Apple messages sent at rate of 200k/sec. WhatsApp is at 390k/sec.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

Hello BLR!

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Payments + biz features = HUGE.

Pratik Poddar

@pratikpoddar

5 years

FB quietly announced WhatsApp getting product catalogue at F8. I have a feeling that this small feature could create many many large opportunities! Exciting times! If you are building startup on WhatsApp ecosystem, please ping me! Would love to brainstorm.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Yo @vijayshekhar - $100b company by 2025?

Sachin Bansal

@_sachinbansal

8 years

Congratulations to @vijayshekhar for winning entrepreneur of the year award. #🇮🇳 #ETAwards

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Your address book is your analog Real-Relationship Network • Friends you've known since grade school • Family members, cousins, aunts & uncles • Co-workers you've spent years working alongside Our goal with HalloApp is to turn the analog, digital. 🧵👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Kylie Jenner should be Instagram’s’s new CEO. This is why: A few days ago, Kylie posted this photo to her Story: Proof she gets the platform even more than IG’s executives.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

HalloApp is on a mission to help people reclaim their relationships online. • No ads getting in the way of your connecting with each other • No posts from people you don’t know/don’t follow • No influencers, brands, or unrealistic expectations Just the people you care about.

Ross Gerber

@GerberKawasaki

3 years

Instagram and Facebook are garbage apps that just subtract from your life. When you quit them you will gain back time and happiness. #DeleteFacebook $FB

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

But imagine your friends online were your real friends. Imagine your feed wasn’t filled with people and posts you didn’t care about. Imagine scrolling through meaningful moments and seeing what you wanted you to see—not what the algorithm wanted you to see. 🤔💭

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Our mission is to build a simple, safe, private place for people to connect and share what matters—with the people who matter most. Thanks @lochhead for helping us share our story.

226 Real Digital Relationships | HalloApp Launch with Founders Neeraj Arora & Michael Donohue -...

Welcome to this very special episode of Follow Your Different. We’ll talk about one of the most anticipated startups in Silicon Valley today, HalloApp. We sit down with HalloApp founders Neeraj Arora...

lochhead.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Imagine your social feed without: - Ads - Brands - Influencers - Sponsored posts - Sensational news Just your real friends, talking about things that matter to you. That’s HalloApp.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

🚀🙏🏻

Vidit Aatrey

@viditaatrey

3 years

Venture Highway invested ~$100K at $1M valuation in our angel round. And they have invested in Meesho in EVERY round since, including the latest one at $2.1B valuation. Your belief and conviction is 🤯 @neerajarora @SamirDEL @venturehighway

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

So grateful to have worked for/with him. So much to learn. cc @jankoum @jimgoetz

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

What a beautiful place.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Witnessing India's Cashless Revolution at Paytm Headquarters via @paytm

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Privacy = Keep in touch with friends, family members, and people you have real relationships with… ...without being tracked, monitored, targeted every minute of every day.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Our vision for HalloApp, specifically with groups, is to help more people connect in quality ways, together, in private. HalloApp Groups have three primary use cases: • Family Groups • Friend Groups • Interest-based Groups Here’s how they work 🧵👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

#notapicture

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Worth a listen

WhatsApp co-founder on walking away from Facebook and why privacy is the future

In an exclusive interview, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton opens up about walking away from more than $850 million dollars at Facebook, and why with all the mon

podcasts.apple.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

The word “algorithm” has become distorted over the decades. But social algorithms aren't to blame. It's engagement features that weaponize them. Here's how manipulating people's attention has become a product design decision (and why it's a slippery slope) 🧵👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

4 years

Nothing is great.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

6 years

“How WhatsApp Bot is helping us improve customer support experience” by Deepak Malani

How WhatsApp Bot is helping us improve customer support experience

Many of you who booked a bus ticket on redBus in last few weeks would have received ticket details and lot more on WhatsApp. Some of you…

medium.com

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

8 years

Kudos @vijayshekhar and team!2016 in numbers. Thank you Paytmers

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

9 years

WhatsApp Message Received at Refugee Camp in Croatia Saves 80 Refugees from Drowning in the Aegean Sea

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

#ArijitSingh

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

A lot of that credit goes to Larry and Sergey.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

11 years

Announcing WhatsApp wearable at MWC. #moonshot http://t.co/KwXvXWMJJU

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Somewhere along the way, social media went seriously wrong. • What we post is rarely who we are. • What we see isn’t from people we know. • What we talk about online isn’t what we talk about in private. Will the metaverse solve this?

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

Reminder: if you're not paying for the product you are the product.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

But you still need a TEAM to win the world cup

Ramesh Srivats

@rameshsrivats

5 years

Feels good to have the best batsman and the best bowler in the world in our team.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

3 years

Anyone you have a real relationship with in your life knows the sound of your voice. Which is why we feel it’s so important to give people the ability to send audio notes in response to posts and in 1:1 chats. Here’s how it works on @halloapp 🧵👇

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

Deleting Messages ..

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

5 years

Think @jankoum will be great guy to be on this oversight committee. He was also on FB's board earlier.

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

2 years

DEL

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neeraj arora

@neerajarora

7 years

How a WhatsApp chat led to 42 members of TN family pledging their organs

Family WhatsApp groups can be quite mundane, filled with regular ‘good morning’ messages and inspirational quotes. However, a single conversation can also elici

www.thenewsminute.com

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