Facebook Keeps Ads Off Whatsapp

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Facebook management has decided to avoid putting ads on WhatsApp. That's great news for all of us using the service (more than 1.5 billion people around the world).

You might recall that Mark Zuckerberg swooped on WhatsApp in 2014, paying $22 billion to acquire it from a small group of nerdy founders lead by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. Those guys quit 18 months ago when rumours of a commercial strategy emerged. According to the WSJ, the team working on the project to integrate ads into our conversations and status posts has been disbanded. Hooray!

WhatsApp was only created in 2009 and initially made money from a download charge and then a $0.99 annual subscription, but Facebook made the platform free after acquiring it.

For now the focus is on building out money-making features which allow businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp. That makes good sense. I have seen banks and utility providers that use the platform for solving customer problems. Corporate users can also set up customer groups, and that sort of thing. They are also testing projects related to payments in India, where WhatsApp is also very popular.



Keep in mind too that Facebook is currently developing a single messaging database for all of its user interfaces. In many countries (including the US) more people use Facebook Messenger to stay in touch than WhatsApp. With so many users, keeping everything running smoothly all around the world takes some serious server engineering. We just send messages to our loved ones and take all that for granted. What a gift to humanity!

Facebook takes a lot flak from politicians and pundits, but its underlying advertising business is thriving. Over the past 12 months, Facebook shares are up more than 50%, twice the gains of the S&P 500. It closed last night at $221.77 per share, which is very close to its all-time high. We are happy shareholders.

Read about the WhatsApp developments here (may require a registration or subscription). Facebook Backs Off Controversial Plan to Sell Ads in WhatsApp