When it comes to staying in communication with your family and friends, there’s no shortage of apps to keep you connected.
While some default to direct text messaging, 3 billion people globally turn to other options. The most popular of those options is WhatsApp, which was purchased by Meta (META) in February 2014 for $19 billion. At that time, it was Meta’s largest acquisition to date.
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Originally founded in February 2009 by ex-Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the app catapulted to success within two years, hitting top 20 status in Apple’s App Store.
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By August 2014, WhatsApp had ballooned to 600 million users and become the popular messaging app in the world. Experts predicted the app could force the telecommunications industry to lose billions.
Meta has continued to actively update WhatsApp with new features since purchasing it, adding video messages in July 2023 and an AI assistant in April 2024. The app has since grown to three billion users, meaning a lot of people rely on it every day.
Now Meta is making another change to WhatsApp. It will be familiar to those who use Meta sister product Instagram, but it’s a feature that no one really likes.
Meta is making a key change to WhatsApp.
Image source: Shutterstock
Meta is changing WhatsApp status updates
Much like its other platforms, Meta offers status updates in WhatsApp. These work a lot like Instagram’s stories, where users can post updates that expire after a period of time.
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Meta announced on June 16 that it will be adding ads to the status updates section, which is a strategy the company also employs for Instagram.
To serve the ads, Meta says, it tracks where users are from, what language they speak, and what channels they follow. Ads users interact with will also inform the direction of the ads they are served in the future.
Meta clarified it will not use personal data such as phone numbers, messages, and calls to serve the ads, but if a person’s WhatsApp account has been added in Meta’s Account Center, the preferences will be used to select which ads are shown.
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“[The new ads and promotion products] felt like the next natural evolution, now that both those businesses have scaled to help people discover businesses directly within WhatsApp,” said WhatsApp VP of Product Alice Newton Rex in a briefing.
“And that was what we were increasingly hearing from businesses that they wanted to do as well,” she said.
The ads will roll out globally over the next few months, Meta said.
WhatsApp Channels get new options
Another change coming to WhatsApp also takes a page from Instagram’s playbook — allowing select creators and businesses to charge users a subscription fee to unlock exclusive posts on Channels.
Currently Instagram creators get to keep 100% of what they earn from subscriptions, minus taxes and fees. Meta did not address in the announcement whether WhatsApp subscriptions will work on the same model, but it’s likely they will.
Meta also announced that Channels can now be promoted as well, helping users to discover more of what the platform identifies they will like.
Meta emphasizes that all these changes will be limited to WhatsApp’s Updates tab, meaning if you only use the app to chat, you won’t even see them.
“We’ve been talking for years about how to build a business on WhatsApp in a way that doesn’t interrupt personal chats, and we believe the Updates tab is the right place to introduce that,” the announcement says.
Meta stock rose after the announcement was made, up 2.59% for the day and hitting its highest point in a month.
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