Meta has been actively working on bringing some changes to the company's strategy and approaching AI and other unexplored areas more aggressively. The company has long been dropping subtle hints about bringing ads to WhatsApp, but years went by in speculation about the update being underway until recently. The tech giant is finally embracing a big change for the platform and moving away from the ad-free model to a new monetization strategy for the platform, as what was once merely speculation is now shaping up to be a reality.
After years of dropping hints, Meta announced that WhatsApp would now be showing ads in status updates as the company pushes for monetization
Meta recently made a significant announcement about pivoting into a new direction and pushing harder for monetization. The company is starting a new chapter as WhatsApp begins showing ads in status updates from businesses, marking an end to an ad-free era. Previously, the Status feature was used by users to display any voice notes, videos, or images that they wanted to share with their friends and family for a short time, as they disappeared after 24 hours. But now, along with updates from family and friends, you will also see business ads.
The ads from businesses would be marked as sponsored content, so there would be no guesses on where the content is popping up from. This is the first time that Meta took a major step in its monetization strategy for WhatsApp, but the idea has been explored for years. Since many of the founders were not in favor of this move, the company's plan to launch in-app ads was dropped in 2020, only in 2023 to be brought up again by WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart, who hinted at the idea still on the table.
Meta has advertising as a major revenue stream, as it earned about $160 billion last year alone. The company is now extending the model to WhatsApp, which is significant given that the platform has about 2 billion users. By tapping into this massive audience, the company intends to increase its revenues and also pursue its goal of monetizing its messaging apps.
Meta further lets us into the ads we would be seeing and how they would be personalized to your preferences by gathering information from a small set of details it has, such as the country you live in, the channels you follow, or even your language setting. The tech giant, however, highlighted that it would not be using any messages, groups, or calls made for the advertisement. In the update, Meta shared:
We’ve been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years, and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work. We will never sell or share your phone numbers to advertisers.
WhatsApp would additionally get a new option to subscribe to channels and get exclusive updates from creators or businesses. The Explore button would show promoted channels, demonstrating that the company is making the platform more than a messaging app and pushing for a content-driven platform instead.
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