Discord has gone from just being a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform to being considered a social media platform. Discord is an application that provides users with different facilities, including text messaging, video streaming, video calling, voice calls, etc. The platform has come a long way ever since its inception in 2012.
While the platform used to focus on users who play games, it has changed to focus on all users who communicate through the internet. Today, Discord has communities from all fields of life. Some servers hosted on the platform include fan clubs, businesses, companies, book clubs, religious groups, gaming communities, Reddit subreddits, movie clubs, etc.
The platform has more than 250 million registered users, out of which there are 100 million active users. It shows how popular Discord is among internet users. However, there are some users and communities that haven’t made the switch yet. Some don’t know what benefits they get from using the platform, and some may be worried about its drawbacks. For those users, it is important to know the pros and cons of using Discord.
Pros of using Discord 2022:
Discord is definitely worth using for almost everyone. To support its usage, given below are some of the benefits of using the platform.
1) User-friendly
One of the top-selling points of Discord is its user-friendliness. The platform offers its users an easy-to-use application that doesn’t require any technical knowledge. The platform also gives new users a basic tutorial on how to use it.
Users from all around the world can use the platform without any technical knowledge required. The platform also allows users to use its application in 29 different languages, which increases its user-friendliness even more.
2) Free to use
Discord does not require users to pay to use its platform. Thus, any user can use almost all features without having to pay for them. There are some features, though, that only Discord Nitro users can use. However, these features are not essential to the platform itself.
Similarly, almost all platform features are unlimited, including voice and video calling and video streaming. There are no monthly limits that users must bind to or pay for to use. It makes the platform accessible to everyone.
3) Customizability
Users can also customize the looks and other features of the platform to their own liking. For example, users can switch between a light and dark mode according to their choice.
Similarly, many other customization features allow users to alter basic to advanced features of the application.
The platform also allows users to connect their bots (or some premade ones) to their server to add extra functionality, such as playing YouTube songs, getting news, connecting to game servers, etc.
4) Control
Discord also gives server owners a lot of control over their servers. These controls include basic customization options such as choosing user-group (known as roles) colors to more advanced features, including permissions, widgets, audit logs, etc.
It allows server owners to control their servers for their specific communities in a better way. Some of the Discord’s alternatives do not provide the same level of control apart from a few basic features.
Apart from server owners, Discord also gives individual users control over their accounts and how they interact with each server and user.
Cons of using Discord 2022:
Discord isn’t only about advantages, though. There are a few disadvantages that users get when using the platform as well. Given below are some of the drawbacks of using Discord.
1) Privacy issues
The biggest con of using Discord is its horrible privacy and encryption problems. The application monitors users’ activity to display to others. While users can disable whether the application displays the information, they can’t disable the option fully.
Similarly, the platform does not offer the same level of encryption that some other platforms give their users. Discord has had some problems in the past with privacy as well.
Some users have also criticized their privacy policies. However, Discord hasn’t made any significant changes. For some users, privacy may be a big drawback.
2) Call quality issues
Sometimes, Discord can have issues with call quality. Some users have reported random call quality drops, which they don’t like. Technical issues can happen on any platform. However, with Discord, these issues are more prevalent.
Some of Discord’s competitors and other alternatives give much better quality as compared to it. For users that depend on the quality of their calls, the quality issues may be disappointing.
Conclusion
Discord is an online platform that offers users many different online communication features. There are many pros and cons to using Discord. The pros include its user-friendliness, being free to use, customizability, and the control it offers. Its cons include some privacy and call quality issues.