Facebook, making its first serious move to monetize WhatsApp

Facebook is seriously considering the monetization of WhatsApp after the report by the platform that showed slow growth in earnings last Wednesday. According to WhatsApp, there has been a release of three new mediums for customers to easily connect with businesses they want to contact. They include a shortcut button to immediately start a conversation, the ability to have businesses send you information like a boarding pass on WhatsApp, and real-time support.


On the other hand, Facebook will now be displaying ads of businesses that are linked to WhatsApp. What this means is that businesses will now be able to buy ads that will directly link people to a chat that has already been created on WhatsApp and from there they can get any information regarding the business. Businesses on their own part can respond to the customers as long as they reply within the 24 hours the message was received, after that they will be charged by Facebook. This happens to be a good way for Facebook to make some more cash.

The message function that’s on WhatsApp has the same function as the one on Facebook, all you have to do is head to the businesses page and send a message. On Messenger, business discourse has not been very successful and as such Facebook was forced to release more chat extensions to recompense for that. According to WhatsApp’s blog post, it is the choice of the businesses if it wants to provide adequate support.

It was in September last year, that business users gained access to the WhatsApp platform. From that moment on, the company has not disclosed the number of businesses that make use of the app. WhatsApp stated that it tested the new messaging tools with up to 90 businesses and they include Uber, Wish, and Singapore Airlines.

This recent announcement serves to show that Facebook is creating new tools to lure businesses to remain on WhatsApp by the time it begins to monetize the platform. In a bid to increase deteriorating profits, Facebook could even monetize from Instagram’s ads in Stories and from WhatsApp businesses taking out ads.



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