Whatsapp

• Whatsapp makes it possible to share messages, photo's and video's with a maximum of 256 people at once.
• A feature that may be helpful for teams is that it allows the user to send PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, among others (up to 100 MB).
• Whatsapp caters to both business and consumer needs.
• Its business app targets small business owners and offers features such as allowing the user the possibility to create a business profile, quick replies (which allows the user to save and reuse messages that are frequently sent), labels and automated messages. Its features appear to be more useful for customer communication than internal communication.
• Whatsapp also has a business API for medium and large enterprises. For this service there are tiers and tier 1 allows the company to send messages to 1,000 unique customers, tier 2 allows the company to send messages to 10,000 unique customers, and tier 3 to 100,000 unique customers. Again, this service seems more directed toward client communication than internal communication.
• This link provides customer testimonials for the business API and most businesses mentioned use it for client-facing communications.

Signal

• Signal allows for group chats among Signal users and there is no size limits for groups. For MMS groups, there is a limit of 10 persons.
• It allows the user to send text, voice, video, document and picture messages. It is open source and does not mention whether it caters to businesses.
• This link mentions Signal's messenger features but does none other than those mentioned above are specific to teams, communities or groups.
• User reviews show that the app is used for team communication. As this user says "I correspond in the Signal messenger with my colleagues, we solve small business problems, and also make plans for the working day. Moreover, we have created an encrypted chat, now no one can truly read our correspondence."
• Another user says "this platform allows you to keep progress of all of your employees" and "encrypted messaging has helped ease our CEO (peace of mind) that our company information will not be leaked. Sharing information is a lot easier on the computer as opposed to texting and having to pick up our phones. Linking, photos, attachments are all integrated and help get work done more efficiently."
• A third user says "I would recommend Signal to anyone who needs a messaging platform that goes across devices and is moderately secure. It's easy to use and easy to install." and "It allows me to continue communications throughout the day, without having to switch from IM to text to FB or some other platform. I don't have to tell people to check their email or texts - everything is in one place. Since the content carries over, I don't have to repeat information on different platforms."

Summary of Findings

• During this hour of research, we focused on finding the requested information for Whatsapp and Signal.
• We found that both platforms did not specifically mention which features help teams, groups or communities but that user reviews did provide insight into how business teams are using the app. Therefore, this was added to the requested information in the proposed strategies below.