Facebook Inc FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday at the company's quarterly earnings call that private messaging continues to be the fastest-growing form of communication — with WhatsApp alone seeing the exchange of 100 billion messages each day.
What Happened: The social media company's CEO didn't share details on such figures for its other messaging services, Facebook Messenger and Instagram.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said that there are more than 40 million people viewing a Business Catalog each month on WhatsApp, and that the company will soon enable an option to "click a WhatsApp icon on a Facebook Shop to chat directly with the business."
Both Zuckerberg and Sandberg highlighted the company's efforts in enabling cross-platform communication across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
“People tell us they want to be able to use the app they like best to reach everyone who they want to message,” said Zuckerberg.
The company is rolling out an update to Instagram that adds “best features” from Messenger and creates a “better messaging experience across both apps,” revealed Zuckerberg — adding, “early feedback has been positive so far.”
The CEO also said that the social media giant would make it easier for people to buy products within a chat in WhatsApp as it integrates business features of the messenger with Facebook Shops.
“When a small business sets up a shop, they can now establish, or will be able to establish a commercial presence across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all at the same time,” said Zuckerberg.
Why It Matters: As of October, WhatsApp has 2 billion active users on a monthly basis, while Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion and Tencent Holdings Limited’s TCEHY WeChat — 1.2 billion, according to Statista data.
In August, Facebook formed a new group — led by David Marcus, the co-creator of the social giant’s Libra cryptocurrency — to integrate payments into WhatsApp in Brazil and India.
The social media giant reported its third-quarter results with a revenue of $21.47 billion versus expectations of $19.82 billion on Thursday.
Price Action: Facebook shares closed nearly 4.9% higher at $280.33 on Thursday and fell 2.65% in the after-hours session to $274.40.
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