How does Facebook monetise WhatsApp?

[Kermit power]

The Radio 4 news coverage of Congressional hearings this morning was suggesting that the Biden administration could potentially enact legislation at some point to force the breakup of Facebook.

This got me wondering... how on earth does Facebook make money out of WhatsApp today that could make it attractive to potential buyers?

I think it's probably the most endemic app I use. Barely anyone in my address book doesn't have it, I'm in family groups, friend groups, work groups, volunteering groups etc... I use it frequently for calla with overseas customers who don't want to rack up foreign call charges...

If WhatsApp vanished tomorrow, it would have a major impact on my daily life, and yet I cannot for the life of me figure out how FB make any money from me using it???

I've never had any unsolicited messages or adverts in there. I've never had contact with a business in there who might be paying for the privilege, it doesn't link to any other parts of the FB product portfolio to hook me into using them, and I've never seen any targeted advertising on any other platform that made me think FB might be monitoring my WhatsApp conversations, so what am I missing?

If FB were forced to pull the plug on WhatsApp tomorrow, how would it do anything other than improve their bottom line?

[Aunty Pasty]

I know that users can set up business accounts on WhatsApp but I suspect any revenue from that would be a drop in the ocean.

Maybe there is value in brand awareness and brand association.

I also seem to remember that it was reported that Facebook had plans on diluting or removing some of the privacy features of WhatsApp and integrating it with FB but stalled on that plan when there was a massive backlash on that. So it could be that they purchased it with some grand plans but the plans stalled.

[TeaNoSugar]

I don’t know how these things work except that they wouldnt be doing it unless they were making money from us.

Collecting data and selling it on? That’s the obvious thing I suppose.

[SWoll]

These things are often done just to stop competition.

Had the WhatsApp brand continued to grow and branched out into areas that affect Facebooks bottom line that would have been an issue for them, so they buy it and make sure that doesn't happen.

Or could have been some underlying tech FB wanted to get their hands on etc.

Edited by SWoll on Wednesday 6th October 08:45

[cb31]

I think they bought it in a panic as younger people were using it more than facebook messenger, easier to just buy the competitor when you have loads of cash.

[irc]

What about the fact they bought it means that the previous owners couldn't monetise WhatsApp and compete with Facebook. So not a direct moneymaker but protects Facebook.

Facebook being so wealthy they just buy out competition.

I'm amazed the USA haven't applied monopoly lass to Facebook.

S

[Countdown]

I've always wondered the same thing.

It was my nephew's wedding on Sunday and we were livestreaming the events to 3 sets of relatives in 2 different countries and it cost nothing.

[ZedLeg]

Same as FB and Insta. They sell your data.

[Pixelpeep 135]

facebook provides the adverts, whatsapp provides facebook with the data on what you've been talking about and what mood you are in so they can work out the best way to mess with your head so you purchase st you don't need.

Also, popular services with xx million users can be sold, for a lot.

[vaud]

ZedLeg said:

Same as FB and Insta. They sell your data.

What data can be sold with end to end encryption - not content scanning.

I guess location and level of activity, plus identity linked to FB.

[PeteinSQ]

I'm not sure they do monetise it at the moment. The recent changes to terms and conditions which people tried to avoid agreeing to open the door to them monetising it.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/7/22424769/whatsap...

[ZedLeg]

vaud said:

ZedLeg said:

Same as FB and Insta. They sell your data.

What data can be sold with end to end encryption - not content scanning.

I guess location and level of activity, plus identity linked to FB.

The bulk of Facebooks value is the huge user database it can sell access to, the more apps it controls the more exclusive/valuable it's database is.

Whatsapp also collects more data than any other "secure" messaging app and as someone else said FB want to increase the amount of that data that they can offer to third parties.

[blackrabbit]

They sell location based data on you.

Interesting that virtually no one in US uses whatsapp other than the odd person for international calls so I would guess whatsapp data is more valuable for international marketing.

[gotoPzero]

I think they are just playing the long game, they dont care about it making money now but in the years to come they have all the users in one place and it becomes a lot easier.

Look at the various platforms that try and compete with youtube. Most of them are just wasting their time as youtube have all the users since day one.

[vaud]

blackrabbit said:

They sell location based data on you.

Interesting that virtually no one in US uses whatsapp other than the odd person for international calls so I would guess whatsapp data is more valuable for international marketing.

https://www.conversocial.com/blog/what-countries-a...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/558290/number-...

75m users in the US apparently. All of my US colleagues use it as a cross platform tool (Android / iPhone), and they use it for messaging, not calls.

[mcdjl]

I guess they make money from the business interface https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp though I also got told a few years back that it was being used to run some internal communications networks for government bodies. How true that is I don't know.

[Kermit power]

ZedLeg said:

Same as FB and Insta. They sell your data.

I really don't think that's the case. I've frequently seen ads which I know are definitely linked to things I've written in Gmail, FB or wherever, but I've actually tried to provoke a similar outcome by writing about different things in WhatsApp and only there, and I've never seen any change in ad content to make me think anyone is reading it.

[anonymous-user]

Kermit power said:

ZedLeg said:

Same as FB and Insta. They sell your data.

I really don't think that's the case. I've frequently seen ads which I know are definitely linked to things I've written in Gmail, FB or wherever, but I've actually tried to provoke a similar outcome by writing about different things in WhatsApp and only there, and I've never seen any change in ad content to make me think anyone is reading it.

I agree.

One of their selling points is "end to end encryption" with not even WhatsApp themselves or any other 3rd parties able to access the content of any messages.

I doubt they would be claiming that fact so publicly and regularly if their actual security differed from stated.

Yes, tech companies have bent the truth about stuff like that in the past, but the public take privacy much more seriously now, and they know that.

[ZedLeg]

ZedLeg said:

The bulk of Facebooks value is the huge user database it can sell access to, the more apps it controls the more exclusive/valuable it's database is.

Whatsapp also collects more data than any other "secure" messaging app and as someone else said FB want to increase the amount of that data that they can offer to third parties.

[Police State]

blackrabbit said:

They sell location based data on you.

Interesting that virtually no one in US uses whatsapp other than the odd person for international calls so I would guess whatsapp data is more valuable for international marketing.

Out of interest, do they use a whatsapp equivalent? It would be useful for me to know what app Americans use for casual comms?