WhatsApp is rolling out ads. In an update on Monday, Meta announced that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like status feature.
Meta says it will tailor the ads to your interests by using “limited” information, including your country or city, language, the channels you follow, and how you interact with ads on the platform. You can also change your ad preferences from Meta’s Accounts Center.
This isn’t the only change Meta is making to WhatsApp. The company will also start showing promoted channels when you click on the Explore button to find new ones to follow. It’s also rolling out the ability to subscribe to channels to “receive exclusive updates” as well.
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Nothing better than having a private conversation with my friends and having some dude lean in to remind us that Brawndo, the thirst mutilator, has electrolytes.
The problem is there are very few alternatives that will work for grandma and her friends, especially open source alternatives. This is why WhatsApp and LINE are stupidly popular.
I had to use LINE for work a few years ago to communicate with the Philippines. Awful app.
Awful depends on your point of view. Is it easy to message and call your friends and make group chats for free? The answer is yes. The fact that the interface sucks and is ad-ridden is irrelevant to older aunties and uncles.
Doctorow is always right.
Explains why I’ve started seeing ads for WhatsApp, which was really bizarre
LET THE ENSHITTIFICATION BEGIN!
Begin? 🤔🤔🤔
What year is this?
2025!
the channels you follow
I knew they would use that info for targeted advertising
It’s Facebook 101, let the users themselves tell you what they like
You mean WhatsCrap?
OH whatsSNAP
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provide free app at a loss
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grow massive user base and market share
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squeeze your userbase for every cent they’re worth
Every single time. We got to solve the funding issue some how, I dont want to live in a future run by ads.
WhatsApp was charging $1-$3 per year before Facebook’s acquisition. They had 600M+ users and a team of twelve people. It was beautiful while it lasted.
Hopefully we can carry out the original mission with Signal.
The enshittification process in a nutshell.
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i use none of these features.
i’m glad they are not as invasive as i thought, but they will definetly be making them worse over time.
People are going to use whatever the majority use.
I need to ude WhatsApp when i travel to countries egere it’s widely adopted. Just like I need tocuse Facebook if I want to partake in group chats with friends.
They’re just too big. How is anything else supposed to take off? Just gradually maybe.
So maybe Signal will get there in a few years? What’s itd adoption rate since it was created?
Family chatgroup, signal Work chatgroup, signal Half of my friends, signal
Won’t be very long until I remove whatsapp from my phone. That one friend that doesn’t want to switch, call me I guess…
It’s a slow grind for adoption. I’ve had Signal installed on my phone since like 2016. Went from one person I knew to now about ~30. It’s mostly people from work at tech companies but progressively I’ve noticed other industries employees adopting it for unofficial chat that my contacts list has been growing over the years. Probably won’t take off in a few years. Maybe another decade
Gradually is the answer. You can dual use both Signal and Whatsapp. Same how you can use Lemmy and Facebook and are not limited to one sociale media app.
That’s the main reason Signal uses phone numbers for verification.
That way you can see which of your contact can be reached on their platform.
I slowly diverted from WhatsApp to Signal in that way. I also have it in my WhatsApp bio: ‘‘You can reach me on Signal. Come on over, it’ll be fun’’
WhatsApp getting ads is great news! WhatsApp, and any other meta/facebook/for-profit-social-network will never be a good product. Therefore, the second best alternative is for it to be as bad as possible, so people finally change to worthy alternatives.
What is the alternative here? Don’t know, perhaps Signal, though the devs are not welcoming at all. The UI is absolute shit. Looks like UI for old people, huge margins and empty space. My screen fits like 3 chats. A compact theme would take a few hours to create and vastly improve the product, but ya…
I know right? Why would I use signal? There’s not even any games!
/s
“We will never show you ads in WhatsApp. We promise”. --Facebook when they bought WhatsApp and promised the previous owner not to force ads in the app…
Should’ve included a clause that gives WhatsApp back to the sellers without returning the payment if they walk back from it. Put your money where your mouth is.
I wonder if anyone believed them at the time
If they did not, they at least ignored that instinct and kept using WhatsApp…
How do we get people to stop ignoring their better instincts in things like this?
About the same time we hold people accountable for the words they use when convincing people to make a choice against their interests… So never
The only way to completely fix it is to make the services be compatible, so that people can switch without the downside of leaving people behind.
This is complicated and has downsides though.
federation and open protocols.
the real hard part is getting companies (or better, people directly) to use it.
*gasp*
Who could have ever seen this move coming? From Facebook, of all companies!
To be fair, I am shocked… Not to see a Pikachu face in the comments.
As somebody that doesn’t use what’s app, I’m shocked it didn’t have ads already.
Good news good Signal.
I forgot WhatsApp existed.
Guess its shittier now.
Mhm. Yup.
Tell me you’re not well traveled without saying you’re not well traveled
I’ve never used whatsapp and don’t even remember what it’s for. Somehow life goes on.
It’s not a popular messaging app in the US. It is in many other countries though. I use it to talk to my wife’s family.
