Why does everyone use WhatsApp?

Why does everyone use WhatsApp?

More than three billion people use WhatsApp every month. Established in 2009, this platform has more users than YouTube and around Facebook.

The co-founders of this platform, Jane Koum and Brian Acton, designed it to work as well on Blackberry, Nokia and Windows phones as it does on the iPhone. It soon became a means of communication for people across different devices and countries.

In 2014 Koum and Acton sold this app to Meta (Facebook at that time) and WhatsApp continues to grow. The New Yorker magazine spoke with Knight about why the app has overtaken other messaging and social media platforms, and where it's headed next. Here we have presented the edited and translated part of the same conversation.

Why write about WhatsApp now?

About the middle of last year I thought, "I'm communicating so much from this one place on my phone." This is how I talk to my mother. I do everything related to my children's school through this. I also do my work from this.

British politics, which I write about for the magazine, is largely conducted on WhatsApp. And now you are starting to see businesses on WhatsApp as well.

You can even 'check-in' for your flight with some versions of WhatsApp. All this happened in a relatively short period of time. And I thought, I don't know how this works. I don't know much about this app.

I have to admit that as an American I don't use WhatsApp on a daily basis. And I wonder why this app is not as popular in America as it is in other parts of the world?

America is somewhat of an exception when it comes to smartphone ownership. About 75 percent of WhatsApp users are Android users and 25 percent are iPhone users.

And that reflects smartphone ownership around the world. The US is an exception: where about 60 percent of people own an iPhone. But this is changing and WhatsApp is growing very fast in the US.

Last year, its monthly users in the US exceeded 100 million. It's coming close to you. don't worry

Well, I'm calling you on WhatsApp right now, so obviously it's working.

yes

You have brought up this interesting concept of phatic communion, which is particularly well-applied on WhatsApp. What does it mean?

I wanted to understand why WhatsApp encourages a kind of emotional closeness? It has a very welcoming feel because of all its stickers and emojis.

While reading about all this, I came across the term phatic communion, which refers to the act of people talking to each other without actually saying anything, just making their presence known. They are simply acknowledging that, "Here I am."

WhatsApp is very good at giving such a presence impression - such as small typing indicators and last-seen indicators. This means that your friend or partner or family member is on their device at the same time as you. Apart from that, these things have no great meaning.

And it seemed like a really important part of online behavior. We are now in constant contact. And, especially in family WhatsApp groups, this is really amazing.

One person I spoke to said it felt like the 19th century again, as if the whole family was back in the same house. WhatsApp is very good at being a kind of home for that.

WhatsApp has changed a lot since its inception. However, sending messages remains its primary use. It has recently started advertising and other activities as well. How much has the ownership of Meta affected it?

If you talk to people outside of Meta, there is a clear perception that WhatsApp is increasingly focusing on the interests of corporates and people who are paying to use the platform. It is following Meta's clear strategy of adding and monetizing ads like Facebook and Instagram.

If you talk to Meta, they argue that what people want is happening. People want to communicate with businesses.

Millions of businesses are already using it. They have added a professional platform to do just that. However, they also say that people don't have to go there. Users can still chat privately with their friends and family.

So, what's next for WhatsApp? Has it reached its peak?

I don't think Meta sees it that way. Despite being one of the biggest apps in the world, WhatsApp's earnings are negligible. I think Meta will monetize it strongly. And Meta is really excited about AI in WhatsApp. Because it injects meta AI into your chats. Obviously this is optional, but you can't turn it off.

So I'm not sure what 'optional' means. I think the company is just really excited about the amount of data and traffic. It's a concept where three billion users all interact and train Meta AI. This is very surprising.