When Facebook acquired WhatsApp two years ago, there seemed to be very clear why the social network paid US $ 19,000 million for a messaging application, especially when the same company has its own product messaging.
At the time, the question was whether the time users (450 million) plus future worth that figure. And the answer was diffuse, at least.
Today, things have changed and, while there is a figure behind the whole issue, what is clear is that Facebook wants a gateway more directly in the lives of users. A road that is primarily intended for advertisers.
In short, the announcement on Thursday what it means is that WhatsApp share information with Facebook that before was separated between the two products, as the number of telephone users instant messaging application. (Read “WhatsApp share user data with Facebook”)
This will allow Facebook a more detailed accounting of what users share both services and provide more detailed advertising within Facebook, not of WhatsApp, at least not for now.
Here the discussion a little grayer becomes, because it is not entirely clear how will the issue of providing more relevant advertising without Facebook knows what users WhatsApp are talking .
it is worth remembering that WhatsApp implemented encryption end to end in communications, a technology that shows only the content of the messages to the parties involved in a conversation. Neither the application nor Facebook, they could see what WhatsApp users are talking about.
“We also update these documents (privacy policies) to emphasize that offer encryption end to end. When you and recipients of your message using a recent version of WhatsApp, their conversations are encrypted by default; this means that you are the only ones who can read. Although collaborate with Facebook in the coming months, your encrypted messages remain private and no one else can read. Neither WhatsApp or Facebook, or anyone else. We will not publish or share WhatsApp numbers with others, including Facebook; nor sell, share or give your phone number to advertisers, “said the company in a publishing your blog
Now, the whole thing can work the other way around. It is not know what it is going on Whatsapp to accommodate what is displayed to the user on Facebook, but to understand with whom you interact on Facebook to achieve it through WhatsApp.
the example that the company is using to illustrate this point is to a person who has a scheduled flight with a specific airline. If the interactions between the two have engaged Facebook, contact the airline with your customer can get through WhatsApp.
WhatsApp continues to insist that will not display advertising on its service yet. But the truth is that this step seems inevitable future, though the company continues saying otherwise. By the way, this categorical denial also applied at the time for the sharing of information between them and Facebook. Recent events seem restarles credibility.
Try monetizing an app like WhatsApp was an inevitable matter because of its user base of more than 1,000 million and the price paid for the service Facebook. Especially when it comes to a product that, since January 2016, is free. The company had already warned at the time: “From this year, we will start testing tools that let you use WhatsApp to communicate with companies and organizations in which the user is interested. This may mean that a person can communicate with your bank to confirm whether a transaction was fraudulent or an airline to discuss a delayed flight. Today we received these messages in other -a sides through text messages and calls- so that what we do is try these new tools to facilitate this process WhatsApp, while we offer an experience without third-party advertising or spam “.
But the passing of data between WhatsApp and Facebook worries many, as the latter is a company, but makes a special emphasis on the privacy of its users, has also made a series of errors in this field. At the time, the technology blog All Things D (now extinct, but that was owned by The Wall Street Journal) said at least one third of the responses from Mark Zuckerberg to complaints from their users were problems with handling privacy of these in your service.
what you begin to try WhatsApp and Facebook following in the footsteps of what is already being done with Messenger (the other messaging application of social network), where there a program of interactions between users and businesses.
and this, in turn, follows a vision in which messaging applications are a kind of central services, not just communication tools.
the clearest example of this is WeChat, which, with 762 million users, is one of the most powerful rivals WhatsApp and Messenger. Chinese platform enables a broad overview of interactions, from talking to friends, follow celebrities, communicate with business and shopping, all directly from the application.
WeChat gives the extra step beyond advertising, because it’s not just to capture potential customers or position marks but to make transactions through messaging applications, which today seem to be synonymous with mobile technology.
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