For a communication platform that is the most popular ever worldwide with an estimated 1.5 billion daily active users, Meta is eventually taking advantage of WhatsApp to distribute advertisements, and also promotes channels for businesses through a mudification route through membership. This is probably a complete change of WhatsApp, considering the founders of the app, Jan Koun and Brian Acton did not really like advertising.
That’s all, Koum wrote in its first tweet posted in 2011, “Advertisements are chasing us and clothes, hating working jobs so that we can buy ** T we don’t need.” This was in 2014 when Meta, Facebook acquired a messaging platform around $ 19 million, including $ 4 billion in payment structure, $ 12 billion in Facebook stock, and prohibited stock units of WhatsApp founders and employees were additional $ 3 billion, which were more than four years.
Nevertheless, the latest chapter in WhatsApp evolution now gives the channels the option to put some material behind the membership wall, which will be a monthly fee. Channel admins also get new equipment to promote their appearance on the platform, also for fees. “We will help you search for new channels that can be interesting for you when you’re looking through the directory. First, the admins have a way to increase your channel’s visibility,” the company says in a statement.
And yes, there will be advertisements in the situation. “You will be able to find a new business and easily start interacting with them about a product or service that they are promoting in position,” Meta says.
The situation and channels sit within WhatsApp in the ‘Update’ tab. The situation is usually visual updates posted by your connections that are on WhatsApp, while the channels are the same proposals, but run by businesses – such as Mark Zuckerberg, Liverpool Football Club and Channel for WhatsApp, to keep a few names. In the update tab, users may also find more channels to follow. This is a large extent update tab that will host the WhatsApp migration efforts of the meta, at least for now.
The company does not emphasize any of the efforts for demonetisation in messages and group chats. He says, “These new features will only appear on the update tab, which is far from your personal chat. This means if you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones then there is no change in your experience,” he says. Meta with all things, and with really large technology, can we also warn this with ‘at least for now’?
It is urged that nothing changes as an end-to-end encryption for messages, calls and status updates. Meta says it will customize advertisements that look into a user situation or channels, such as “limited information”, can follow a user, using language, language, language. Certainly, an element that a user interacts with advertisements he has seen earlier.
“For those who have chosen to add WhatsApp to the accounts center, we will also use your advertising preferences and information from your meta accounts,” they say.
Meta says that individual users have no intention of selling information, such as WhatsApp will not use advertisers, while individual messages, calls and groups will not be used to determine the advertisement that the users can see.
This has not been a smooth road to navigate for years for meta (and Facebook), and that is the time defines this time. Meta has considered bringing some level of advertisements for years for WhatsApp, but the plans had to be upside down in 2020, although WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart confirmed in 2023 that things were still in consideration.
Last year alone (calendar year 2024), Meta earned more than $ 160 billion in advertising revenue in its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram – a significant increase in 2023 by $ 132 billion. Meta, wisely, wants to take advantage of this speed as they can. We will get a fair understanding of how Meta’s WhatsApp mudification efforts are dismissed, when tech giants share the latest financial financially early next year.
