Are you looking to get into online media investing, or social media investing? If so, you might find today’s news interesting. Based on the Wall Street Journal’s latest report, social media giant Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:$FB) is taking the necessary steps to make money from WhatsApp, which is a messaging service used by more than a billion people each and every day.
For those who don’t know, WhatsApp — which started in 2009 — was acquired by Facebook for a whopping $22 billion in 2014. Previously, Facebook has not focused on WhatsApp, but on Tuesday, September 5, the messaging service disclosed the following:
“We’re building and testing new tools via a free WhatsApp Business app for small companies and an enterprise solution for bigger companies operating at a large scale with a global base of customers, like airlines, e-commerce sites, and banks.”
Essentially, WhatsApp plans to test new features that will make it easier for people to get in touch with businesses on the app. Tuesday’s announcement should not come as a surprise as WhatsApp has already commenced a pilot program that features a green badge next to a business contact. This indicates that the business has been verified by the messaging service.
It’s worth mentioning that COO Matt Idema told the Wall Street Journal that WhatsApp intends “on charging businesses in the future.” Again, this should not come as a total surprise as Reuters announced in March that one potential revenue source for the messaging service was to charge businesses that are looking to contact customers. Keep in mind Reuters made this announcement via citing company documents.
According to the Journal, Idema refused to describe the paid features or announce when they would make their debut on the app. “We don’t have the details of monetization figured out.”
Featured Image: twitter
