2014: Facebook buys WhatsApp for $ 19 billion. 2022: Facebook wants to start making money from WhatsApp. This is how we could summarize the history of the most famous and widespread messaging platform in the world, which we deal with every day by reporting updates and news in the pipeline – see the reactions, just to give an example.
We recently also dealt with the WhatsApp Premium discourse, a subscription version dedicated to the working world that will arrive shortly: an unequivocal sign that Mark Zuckerberg is willing to get something from the app, either to return the huge initial investment or to give life to the coffers of the parent company, Meta, which with Apple’s new policies on tracking and the war in Ukraine has taken heavy blows.
WHATSAPP FOR COMPANIES
Now it is the same WhatsApp to return to the topic revealing the plans for the future in the business field: “WhatsApp places private and companies all over the world at the center of its services “, reads the official blog. And, apparently, after the wave of news concerning the former – which will certainly not end here – it is time to focus attention on the latter. The intention is to ” make the communication difficulties that can arise between customers and companies a problem of the past “. Such as? By making the app available to ” any company that needs to communicate with customers quickly, comfortably and reliably”.
THE NEW CLOUD API
From now on, companies will be able to access the WhatsApp Cloud Application Programming Interface to create a real personalized dashboard so that the service offered to their customers corresponds exactly to their needs. These cloud hosting services will be offered completely free of charge to companies using the new cloud-based API.
These services will make it easier for our partners by eliminating high server costs and giving them immediate access to new features. Switching to the cloud-based API will allow companies to have access to new tools to increase their online visibility, including customizable “click to chat” links and simultaneous management of chats on up to 10 devices.
We got a little taste of these functions from WABetaInfo, which just recently managed to access some of the tools provided by the Premium version of the app. WhatsApp communicates that
these additional features will be paid options as part of a new premium WhatsApp Business service, which we will share more details on in the future.
According to the New York Times, WhatsApp will earn by charging users (companies) based on the number of conversations they will have every day. Depending on the geographic area and other (currently unknown) parameters, a fraction of a cent to over 10 cents per conversation could be required. For small businesses, a (partial) free service cannot be excluded.