8 points

Yes it’s a shame and I wish it was done another way, but also what alternative do they have ?

I’m gonna be the devil’s advocate here and say that if your goal is to have people reach out, you want to make it as painless as posible . The majority of the population has or had a facebook / messenger account making the process to start a chat a simple as a click in most cases. If people had to download a thrid party app or register on yet another plateform, they would probably not start a new chat.

With the recent events this makes it even more urgent to move away from meta products, but the EU being as big as it is, this will take some time…

permalink
report
reply
1 point

I’ve never used Facebook Messenger. I do realize that FB Messenger not being properly encrypted does have advantages in terms of managing the account with multiple agents however. That might be a lot harder to replicate with Signal.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

In a lot of countries whatsapp is the defacto IM, but I live in a country where facebook messenger and viber became the standard for some reason. I guess they measured how much citizen they can reach on each platform and selected messenger based on that data.

This is not for MEPs to message each other, not the recommendation by the Comission, this site is for ordinary citizens to get information. I think the biggest problem is why only facebook messenger?I would expect other similar platforms there, like whatsapp, viber, telegram or imessage.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

@federalreverse @Admax
As a matter of fact, Meta is implementing end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger - much to my displeasure because I couldn’t get it working in any of my browsers and thus couldn’t read my messages since Christmas. Never mind, Facebook doesn’t let me sign into my Facebook account anymore anways and keeps sending me in circles to solve the problem.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

Facebook and Google hassling me trying to log in after moving to a new home despite a good long password, and thus being on a different network in a different city helped me rethink my dependence on both of those services. Google presented me with a questionnaire that was just weird, with question like “what month of what year did you open your account?” (how would I know, the account had existed since 2005?) and then following up with a question what city I was in when I opened the account (again, how would I know?). With Facebook, I noticed there was absolutely no way to log in from another country without already having installed the app, it didn’t even help to add my phone number to the account.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Whatsapp is used by the majority in the EU so messenger still doesn’t make sense.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

….email?

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

The image email has is the one if an old school slugish administration, probably the one physical mails had when emails came around.

When I send an email to anyone, be it a company or an individual, I expect a reply in the next few days. But in chat I’m expecting a reply in a couple of hours. So I’d be much more inclined to a conversation via chat given the option.

Also I’m not certain my experience with younger people and email is representative, but from what I’ve seen younger generations are not the most at ease with email.

I think what’s lacking here is the choice. Messenger is more appealing to a vast amount of people, but to some it might be the opposite, and those people need an lternative.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Snail mail?

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

On the linked page there is a contact form with an input box for email address, so I guess if you contact them via the form they will reply in email.

FB is the only option if you want to chat in a written form. The third option is a phone number you can call.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Thank you for added context ! As long as there are alternatives to Messenger chat i think it’s okay to have it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

God. Damn. Boomers.

permalink
report
reply
-1 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
reply
33 points

It’s one of several contact alternatives.

The cropped screenshot and “the official way” is entirely misleading.

permalink
report
reply
17 points

It’s not. It how you chat with them, as in live chat. Email or a contact form is not a live chat.

I also literally have a comment with the link to the page.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I think the problem comes from the misinterpretation of ‘chat’ as a conversation and not as an avenue of support. Live Chat or any capitalized Chat might better said the next title to avoid confusion.

BUT, live chat is stupid and as an IT professional beholden to a Live Chat my users don’t need, just call them. If you don’t have time to call, email them. Response times are UP with chat, but resolution times are DOWN. More deflection in a chat agent than service

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

You could have titled it “suggested live chat on Facebook”. But you titled it “the official way to contact”.

Bro, what? This is the title of the post “The official way to chat with the European Union is with… Facebook”. What in the world are you on about?

permalink
report
parent
reply
98 points

On Contact the European Union page, it links to the EU’s facebook page.

Just what are they doing…

Edit: if you have a minute, do fill out the contact form to suggest alternatives, complain, or raise concerns.

permalink
report
reply
51 points
*

That’s horrible and a conflict of interest too (as they’re making themselves dependent on a company they are regularly fining for billons of euros) but also totally normal, as almost every single public institution is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp,…

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Did my duty and submitted a comment 🫡

permalink
report
parent
reply

Europe

!europe@feddit.org

Create post

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don’t overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don’t post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don’t troll nor incite hatred. Don’t look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia’s List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don’t question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add “/s” when you’re being sarcastic (and don’t use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They’re cool, you should subscribe there too!)
  8. Don’t evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don’t post uncontextualized images or videos, and don’t start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

  • on any topic: RT, news-pravda:com, GB News, Fox, Breitbart, Daily Caller, OAN, sociable:co, citjourno:com, brusselssignal:eu, europesays:com, geo-trends:eu, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons)
  • on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
  • on Hungary: Euronews

Unless they’re the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any “thinktank” type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don’t link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don’t show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to any of the mods: @federalreverse@feddit.org, @poVoq@slrpnk.net, or @anzo@programming.dev.

Community stats

  • 8.3K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.4K

    Posts

  • 29K

    Comments