Who's On WhatsApp, and Why?

theodp writes "In announcing its $16B acquisition of WhatsApp, Facebook confessed it had very little data on WhatsApp's estimated 450 million users. Asked about the user data, Facebook CFO David Ebersman said, 'WhatsApp has good penetration across all demographics but you are not asked your age when you sign up.' Wall Street analysts concerned by Ebersman's answer won't be comforted by GeekWire reporter Taylor Soper's (non-scientific) poll of UW students, which suggested that WhatsApp may not exactly be BMOC (Big Messenger on Campus). 'I don't use it at all,' replied one UW junior. 'I've heard of it but I have so many other things I do online that it would just be another time-consuming thing. I use Facebook or texting to talk to people.' WhatsApp did fare better in a survey of Soper's Facebook network, where responders said they used WhatsApp mostly for communicating internationally and in groups. So, are you or someone you know using WhatsApp, and what's the motivation for doing so?"

I Use it Internationally

[Neon Spiral Injector]

I'm a 5-digit /. user, i.e. an old guy, but I do use WhatsApp. Only with international friends, though. Even then I tend to use Facebook messenger, but there were a few people who wanted nothing to do with Facebook, and they were actually the ones who pushed me to WhatsApp. I wonder what will happen with them now.

In the Netherlands..

[ellep]

Almost everyone I know that has a smartphone (~80% of the people I know) uses WhatsApp for messaging one-to-one and for groups.

Re:I Use it Internationally

[inasity_rules]

Whatsapp is(was?) brilliant internationally. I also discovered changing sim cards for an foreign one let me still whatsapp from my SA number. It gave me a cheap line of communication linked to my number which was really useful, since roaming is insanely expensive. I'll see if it breaks, but right now it has too much momentum to change easily... Too many people I know use it...

Re:How do they break even?

[Zocalo]

I'm guessing FB sees it more about data mining and the ad revenue (the product) than the actual users (the raw material). If they tack an brief ad on the end of each message and charge for a premium ad-free service, then it becomes more a case of how many messages do WhatsApp users send to each each other that we can make money off. Even charging the advertiser something ridiculous like 0.01c/message, given the rate typical teens messages each other that's going to add up pretty quickly, although I doubt it's going to ever add up to $16b though - especially if they really are shedding users at the rates implied in the tech press.

Re:Nope

[TheGratefulNet]

count me in as one of those who does not 'get it' and still uses email.

email is pretty much instant these days. and what delay there is, gives me time to read the mail and reply to it without someone seeing me typing and backspacing, etc.

so yeah, I don't get it. I don't get IM and I don't get SMS. text email works, everyone has an email addr (not everyone has IM or wants to) and email is a single user interface I need to learn and use.

US traveler in Europe

[NotQuiteReal]

My family got WhatsApp while traveling in Europe, with no data plan on our US phones. Since most hotels have free WiFi, it was the low cost way for my wife and I to communicate with our kids when we split up for a week to different countries.

Back home, it is still being used, as it is handier to group people than SMS/MMS... I was thinking of paying for it when my free year was up this summer, but now that FB bought it, I will drop it. I am not a FB user.

Re:In the Netherlands..

[MtHuurne]

And when the largest Dutch telco announced plans to charge extra for the "privilege" of being able to use IM or VOIP on a mobile data plan, net neutrality legislation was passed in record time.