WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones that relies on the internet for the transmission of messages. Based on a low-cost subscription model, WhatsApp is a cheap alternative to carrier-billed text messaging via SMS, especially for international or group messaging. The mobile messaging app enables users to share text, image and video messages – the service handles more than 600 million photo and 64 billion overall messages every day. In the United States, the daily engagement rate among Android WhatsApp users was 36 percent.
WhatsApp is especially popular in markets outside the United States while facing strong competition from Asia-based social messenger apps such as WeChat, LINE or Kakaotalk. WhatsApp’s popularity in emerging mobile markets is not only based on their low-cost business model but on many of its features.
Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 4th quarter 2015 (in millions)
This statistic shows a timeline with the worldwide number of monthly active Facebook users from 2008 to 2015. As of the fourth quarter of 2015, Facebook had 1.59 billion monthly active users. In the third quarter of 2012, the number of active Facebook users had surpassed 1 billion. Active users are those which have logged in to Facebook during the last 30 days. Furthermore, as of that quarter the social network had 1.31 billion mobile MAU. The platform is also the most popular social network worldwide.
. Founded in 2004, Facebook is currently the biggest social networking service based on global reach and total active users. Launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and some of his contemporaries, the service was initially only available to Harvard students but soon expanded to regional universities, the Ivy League and further universities before opening up to high school students and global users aged 13 or over. Currently, the Facebook usage penetration among internet users in leading markets is above 80 percent.
Facebook users must register before using the social network and are free to create a personal profile in order to interact with other users which they can add as friends. Furthermore, Facebook users may join user groups based on workplace, college or school and can also categorize their Facebook contacts into lists. Users can post status updates or other content and message each other. Facebook users can also interact with a wide selection of applications including social games or other services like the photo-sharing app Instagram.
In September 2012, Facebook announced over one billion active users across all platforms. The social network is also accessible to mobile web users and has published a series of apps based on original Facebook features such as Facebook Messenger, which as of the third quarter of 2015 has a 37 usage penetration rate.
In February 2014, social network Facebook acquired WhatsApp for 19 billion U.S. dollars.