During confinement, we can say thank you to social networks!

What if nothing was more like before on social networks? What if they were the ones who helped us hold on during confinement? Because to travel on Facebook or Instagram in recent weeks, finished, the travel photos, overshadowed by those of deserted streets. Children do dictation online. Singles learn cooking from screens. Others take a drink from afar to cheer up. Even retirees are getting started.

“We are chatting with our family on video all day long. We're overwhelmed! We need to hang on to each other, ”says Pascale, 65. This retired teacher is one of the 6 out of 10 French people who connect to a social network or instant messaging every day, according to 2019 Médiamétrie figures.

But in the past two weeks, on Messenger and WhatsApp, the number of video calls has doubled. “All the activities have moved on these platforms. We can see how much the social bond needs to live ”underlines Laurent Solly, boss of Facebook France, which has 37 million users in France, the subsidiary of the American network to which WhatsApp messaging and the Instagram application belong, and where traffic explodes.

Digital solidarity

More than 500,000 French people have joined one of the 1,000 solidarity groups created, to provide services between neighbors, help nursing staff find accommodation or support traders. Initiatives identified and then put forward by Facebook for users confined to the regions concerned. As if the Covid-19 epidemic had sparked another wave of digital solidarity.

“Before confinement, communications via social networks were individual. Now, we are discovering the paradigm of conviviality, of the collective to keep in touch, to make the absence disappear, ”decrypts Isabelle Veyrat-Masson, historian and sociologist of the media. And Internet speed is soaring, to the point that operators have reduced it in the evening to absorb demand.

Even "Facebook live", these live videos that we thought were outdated, especially on the side of musicians, find colors. Instagram is following suit with twice as many live videos. And overall traffic on WhatsApp - calls, messages, videos - has increased fivefold since March 16, according to the operator Orange's estimate.

In this ball, a new kid has made his way, Houseparty, free application launched in the United States four years ago but little known in France, before being the revelation of the moment, with tens of thousands of downloads.

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VIDEO. Confinement: a day of live on social networks

"Confined people use virtual contacts as an extension of physical contact," says sociologist Jean Viard. In normal times, each of us is in contact with 40 people in a day, from the baker to the work colleagues… However, we lost all these little interactions. We realize that we do not exist without others. For this researcher, no doubt: "We are in accelerated training on digital. The revolution started in 2007 with the appearance of Twitter after Facebook. Digital will become a common tool in 2020. "

5 essential apps to keep in touch

Of course, there are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… But in these times of confinement, other (free) applications allowing you to keep in touch with your loved ones are experiencing a new boom. Here is a selection from the top 10 most downloaded at the moment.

WhatsApp. This is not new. But with the crisis, the use of this messaging system explodes. Here, the discussions are compartmentalized by group (family, football friends, colleagues, etc.). Tip to find your way in the middle of the avalanche of messages that we receive on certain days: do not hesitate, when you telecommute for example, to download the "computer" version of the app. It makes it easier to juggle from one wire to another.

Houseparty. And suddenly the face of our 71-year-old mother appears, happy to drink with her grandchildren. "Are we doing a drawing contest?" Because in addition to video exchanges limited to eight participants for an aperitif, for example, Houseparty also offers integrated games (an equivalent of Pictionnary, a quiz, etc.). Regressive and transgenerational.

Zoom. Since the crisis, the American videoconferencing application, originally planned to organize remote meetings, has not left the podium for free downloads, in France as elsewhere. Its number 1 asset: being able to gather up to ... 100 participants at the same time.

Plato. Play a game of minigolf, naval battle or Ocho, the equivalent of Uno while chatting - in writing - with your friends: this is what this 100% fun app offers. A little too much pub for our taste - because it is free - but a host of games available.

Discord. It is the “gamers” app, particularly popular with teens. It allows users, remotely but gathered around their favorite video game, to chat in real time, both orally and in writing, with a group made up of an invitation system that allows members to remain on paper on paper. known to each other.