Tokyo - with some tricks

In the past 24 hours, I found myself engrossed in writing over 100 WhatsApp messages. While none of these conversations were particularly thrilling, they served their purpose: making family plans, coordinating work projects with colleagues, and sharing the latest news and gossip with friends. Despite the mundane nature of these exchanges, I take comfort in knowing that even my dullest messages were secured by default encryption, utilizing WhatsApp’s robust servers located in data centers across the globe. It’s impressive that such a sophisticated operation operates without charging me or my fellow users any fees. With nearly three billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has effectively created a global communication platform that remains accessible and reliable, allowing us to connect effortlessly, even when discussing the most trivial of topics.

Individual, personal WhatsApp accounts like mine are free because WhatsApp makes money from corporate customers wanting to communicate with users like me. Since last year firms have been able to set up channels for free on WhatsApp, so they can send out messages to be read by all who choose to subscribe. But what they pay a premium for is access to interactions with individual customers via the app, both conversational and transactional. The UK is comparatively in its infancy here, but in the Indian city of Bangalore for example, you can now buy a bus ticket, and choose your seat, all via WhatsApp.

Nikila Srinivasan, the Vice President of Business Messaging at Meta, envisions a future where businesses and customers seamlessly interact within a chat thread. This innovative approach means that tasks such as booking tickets, initiating returns, or making payments can be accomplished without leaving the chat interface. Users can effortlessly transition back to their other conversations, streamlining their digital experience. Additionally, businesses now have the option to pay for a direct link that opens a new WhatsApp chat right from ads on Facebook or Instagram, enhancing customer engagement. Ms. Srinivasan highlights that this feature alone is generating "several billions of dollars," underscoring the significant impact of integrated messaging on the economy and customer service.