- Facebook’s WhatsApp – the world’s largest messaging app has now 2 billion users.
- Its user base is now 500 million more than what it was just years before.
- WhatsApp user base is projected to hit 3 billion marks by 2022. By the end of this year, the numbers are said to cross 2.7 billion while 2.87 billion by 2021.
With 150 billion monthlies active WhatsApp user base, they were exchanging more than 60 billion messages per day. These are the figures when Facebook acquired WhatsApp in Feb 2018.
Now, over 25% of the world’s population (or 2 billion people globally) now use WhatsApp – A synonym for instant text messaging app.
What Next After This Much Increase in WhatsApp User base?
With great power, comes great responsibility! In much the same way, with a growing user base (for any platform) it becomes important to shift focus on crucial things.
After hitting 2 billion WhatsApp user base, the team is now concerned about the security of the messaging app.
“We know that the more we connect, the more we have to protect. As we conduct more of our lives online, protecting our conversations is more important than ever” – the team mentioned in a blog.
Last year there were concerns about how much one’s identity (& so their messages) are secured on WhatsApp. There were issues going with the NSO Group – an Israeli surveillance firm that reportedly helped unnamed spies to hack into phones of approx. 1400 users globally (121 from India).
However, WhatsApp emphasized that every private message sent using its platform is secured with end-to-end encryption by default. Meaning, no 3rd party can eye on the conversations happening.
From Where Did 2 Billion WhatApp Userbase Come From?
India is said to be the largest market for WhatsApp. There is no confirmation about WhatsApp user base in India but it is said to be somewhere around 400 million in July 2019.
Brazil has somewhere around 120 million WhatsApp user base while the US market is said to have not less than 23 million users. WhatsApp user base comes from 25 countries including the US, France, Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia among many others.
What About Competitors?
Apart from increasing the WhatsApp user base, the app is all backed up by Marc Zuckerberg (as mentioned earlier). Practically, there is no other app anywhere near WhatApp.
But talking about its competitors there is Snapchat, Telegram, Line and many more. In fact, any app which is offering text messaging, voice/video calls are competing against WhatsApp.
Everything started off as simply sending text messages along with emoticons and a plethora of gifs. Then the platform introduced status messages, voice and video calling features, broadcast messages, forming groups and much more.
Apart from Facebook backing WhatsApp its simplicity and minimalistic (yet perfect) platform for instant conversations, makes WhatsApp different and big among others.
Is WhatsApp User base Safe?
As per WhatsApp and Marc, yes! The platform is safe and secure for everyone. In fact, with growing WhatsApp user base the company has made sure to put more emphasis on encryption and safety concerns.
“Strong encryption is a necessity in modern life. We will not compromise on security because that would make people less safe. It acts like an unbreakable digital lock that keeps the information you send over WhatsApp secure, helping protect from hackers and criminals. No one in between can read your messages or listen to your calls, not even us. Your private conversation stays between you” – WhatsApp said.
With its focus shifting from the user base, attraction, and added benefits, WhatsApp is now very much focused on making the platform secure than ever.
Future Plans:
WhatsApp recently gained approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to roll out its payment platform, WhatsApp Pay. The timing couldn’t have been much better than this!
With 400 million WhatsApp user base just imagine what potential WhatsApp Pay has. But at the same time, it will face head-to-head competition with PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm.
The messaging app also announced an investment of $250,000 in India’s startup ecosystem last year in November.
As of now, WhatsApp has no major source of income. But with 2 billion and a growing user base, earnings of this platform can reach heights. Provided, whatever the team comes up with, its safe, secure, attractive and comes with a unique value proposition.
On behalf of Next Big Brand, we congratulate WhatsApp for its 2 billion users.
