Why did Facebook buy WhatsApp?

I don’t know if Facebook buying WhatsApp for $16 billion is a good idea for Facebook or not, but I’m pretty sure it’s a potentially good idea. I’d heard of WhatsApp before, but I first took real notice of it last July when researching this post about Instagram businesses in Kuwait.

Several of the businesses I found used WhatsApp for messaging…browse via Instagram, arrange to buy via WhatsApp. Very low cost, more flexible than SMS, cross-platform, no giant social network appendage to deal with (e.g. Facebook/Twitter), and it’s not email. And, the thing that struck me, WhatsApp (and Instagram) being used for financial/business transactions. Services teens use for social grooming are certainly interesting and important (after all, teens’ social grooming is how, eventually, we end up with more teens), but when you’ve got something being used in all sorts of places all over the world as a social tool *and* a marketplace, you’ve got yourself a platform and that is potentially very valuable.

• business
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WhatsApp