WhatsApp now has over 3 billion active users each month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced during the company’s Q1 earnings call on Wednesday. The messaging app, founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion, remains free to use and does not serve any ads.
WhatsApp reached the 2 billion monthly active users mark in 2020, and this latest milestone makes it one of the few apps to surpass the 3 billion-user threshold, alongside Facebook itself. With this enormous user base, WhatsApp has become a key business for Meta, especially as the company focuses heavily on its AI strategy.
WhatsApp as a Key Platform for Meta’s AI Services
Meta’s CFO, Susan Li, highlighted that WhatsApp has seen the strongest use of Meta AI across the company’s suite of apps. Li mentioned that most WhatsApp users engage with Meta AI through one-on-one chats. WhatsApp has become a crucial platform for the company to distribute its AI services to users.
Zuckerberg also acknowledged that while WhatsApp offers easy access to these AI features, Meta has taken a different approach in markets like the U.S., where people tend to favor their default messaging apps. To address this, Meta launched its Meta AI app, which Zuckerberg believes will help the company eventually lead the U.S. messaging market.
“We hope to become the leader over time [in the U.S. messaging market], but we’re in a different position there than we are in most of the rest of the world on WhatsApp,” Zuckerberg said. He emphasized the importance of the Meta AI app in establishing the company’s leadership in the U.S.
WhatsApp Business and AI Integration
Meta also noted that WhatsApp Business is growing steadily and contributed a significant portion of the $510 million revenue generated by its family of apps. The company is testing new AI tools for WhatsApp Business, which includes building an AI agent management interface and dashboard for businesses. This platform will allow businesses to train Meta’s AI with their specific information, such as their website, WhatsApp profile, and social media pages like Instagram and Facebook.
Meta is also exploring the possibility of enabling businesses to activate Meta’s AI-powered chatbot for customer interactions.
Author’s Opinion
Meta’s ambitious integration of AI into WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business positions the company as a leader in the next phase of digital communication. However, its success depends on how well it handles privacy concerns and balances AI innovation with user trust. The sheer scale of WhatsApp’s user base could make Meta’s AI-driven business tools incredibly powerful, but this will require transparent communication and safeguarding user data at every step.
Featured image credit: Christoph Scholz via Flickr
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