New changes for Whatsapp
Whether you like to keep up with the messaging culture or not, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it is only becoming more advanced. The new changes that are coming to WhatsApp are prime example of this. Facebook, the company that owns WhatsApp has been implementing new features to the platform over the years since its acquisition in 2014. While majority of these changes were meant for regular people, this time around some of the upcoming changes are more for the benefit of the marketing industry.
What are the changes?
Name changes
The tech giant recently announced that it is renaming WhatsApp to “WhatsApp From Facebook” (and Instagram to “Instagram from Facebook). Reports quote a Facebook spokesperson as saying the rebrand is because they “want to be clear about the products and services that are part of Facebook.”
WhatsApp ads
After much speculation, Facebook officially confirmed at their marketing summit that they will be introducing adverts to WhatsApp next year. The ads will appear within WhatsApp statuses and are designed the same way ads appear on Instagram stories, with a swipe up feature. This means marketers will now have an added opportunity to advertise products and services to 1.5 billion active users around the world.
WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp will steadily see an integration of the business catalogue feature similar to Facebook Business. What this means, is that users will now be able to browse products from WhatsApp. This feature will only be available in chats between WhatsApp registered businesses and their customers.
Status share and QR Code integration
WhatsApp users will also be able to share their status updates to their Facebook profiles, the same way they can via Instagram. This will be a manual feature that will ask for permission before posting.
The QR code integration is being developed to allow users to share contacts using the code.
Cryptocurrency
Reports suggest that Facebook has been working on this feature for a while now. What it is, is a digital currency that users will be able to send to their friends and family anywhere in the world. Libra, as it is called will be tested and rolled out possibly early next year.
These changes have the potential to chase users away due to concern of privacy, because it wasn’t so long ago that Facebook made a promise not to monetise WhatsApp. But for people who do what we do, it offers us new ways of targeting and reaching a new customer base.
