- WhatsApp was founded in May 2009 & Facebook acquired the messenger in Feb 2014.
- Founders Acton & Koum resigned in 2017 as they had differences with Marc Zuckerberg who wanted to infuse ads in between chats.
- WhatsApp has been the best replacement for SMS services since its inception.
Recently there was a buzz that Facebook is in progress to introduce WhatsApp ads in between chats and statuses. A user would never know when an ad would pop up on the platform.
But now, 1.6 billion userbases should be relieved to know that Facebook has dropped its plans to roll out ads on WhatsApp.
However, they might still plan to feature ads on WhatsApp statuses, but rolling out ads in between chats has been definitely chucked from the plan.
The time Facebook acquired WhatsApp, they had high hopes in monetizing the platform through ads in between chats and statuses. But the team that was working to integrate WhatsApp ads on the platform was disbanded by the messaging app recently.
Founders of WhatsApp (Acton & Koum) resigned in 2017 as they had issues with Marc Zuckerberg who wanted to monetize the platform by introducing ads.
After dropping the idea of ads (one major source of earning), Facebook’s WhatsApp is now focusing more on features that will allow the business to communicate with their users more effectively and organize those contacts in a better way.
Initially, when the messaging app was launched, to download this app a user had to spend approx. $0.99. But after Facebook acquiring the platform, it was made free for all users.
Facebook considers monetizing WhatsApp because it’s one of the most downloaded apps in the world with a diversified userbase. But the idea of rolling out WhatsApp ads on the platform irritated people like anything.
Like just imagine yourself talking to your best friend and after every 5-6 messages, you send an ad pops up every time. You need to cancel the add to continue texting and if by mistake you click on it; you’re redirected to a whole new web page (which you never wanted to view at first hand).
When are we getting to see the ads on statuses is still a secret but at least we will not be bombarded with a plethora of ads while we are texting?
Isn’t it a relief?