6 ms·

WhatsApp users will start seeing in-app ads within ‘Status’ feature from 2020

83 points by recursion 7y ago

ceejayoz 7y ago
> While ads themselves aren’t exactly the most welcome inclusion, this will be a much-preferred method than intrusive banner ads. There's no reason to believe it'll stop here. Instagram was ad-free for quite some time. Now every third or fourth post is a big, unmissable ad. Same thing in stories.
- zuron7 7y ago
  Use the web version. No ads. Use the app only when you need to post.
  - dangus 7y ago
    Unpopular opinion here: Instagram ads are unobtrusive and easy to skip quickly. Being unwilling to pay for a platform and simultaneously being unwilling to be shown any advertisements is unsustainable. In the US, Facebook's revenue is $25 per user per quarter. That's $100 a year. Are you willing to pay the same or more than that just for access to their products? YouTube Premium actually is a great example of how much that pricing ends up being: $11.99 a month.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      I'm perfectly willing to pay for Instagram, they just don't give me the option.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - vitro 7y ago
      Your brain has seen them already, that is enough.. I don't want to pollute my mind if I can choose, ads are already omnipresent.
- rchaud 7y ago
  > Instagram was ad-free for quite some time. Now every third or fourth post is a big, unmissable ad. Same thing in stories. Stopped using Instagram because even the "organic" posts are ads or product placement of some sort. It seems like every time someone hits 10k subs or more, their content becomes >50% ads.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    I follow primarily friends, family, and a few hobbyists in my chosen hobbies (model trains, space/rockets, etc.). It's been no trouble to curate - more than one "sponsored" post probably means I unfollow you, as do memes. The end result (barring their ads) is a really nice feed of pictures that are either cool or interesting to me personally.
    - rchaud 7y ago
      Family and Friends post boring stuff for the most part. I was on Instagram for other things like photography, interior design and memes. The first 2 categories will obviously have "sponsor content", but when meme pages started shilling products, it was over for me.
b_tterc_p 7y ago
Has anyone here gone to the Facebook marketing summit? What’s that like? When they announce the intention to put more ads into the app, do people cheer?
pdog 7y ago
Here's a blog post from WhatsApp in 2012 on why they don't sell ads: https://web.archive.org/web/20120619170843/http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/06/why-we-dont-sell-ads/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120619170843/http://blog.whats...
- isoprophlex 7y ago
  Yeah, well, there's a reason the founders didn't get along with Zuckerberg et al. and bailed out after the takeover...
  - dageshi 7y ago
    Easy enough to stick to your principles if the point was to sell the business from the beginning? No need to worry about profitability, just get big enough to sell then let whoever buys add the ads.
- mehdix 7y ago
  I remember when I read that article. It was a great idea. When they sold WhatsApp to Facebook however, I realized that this is potentially the fate of any for-profit business.
  - brianacton 7y ago
    I agree. That's why I have become a much bigger champion for non-profit businesses.
    - liquid153 7y ago
      Longshot: Hey Brian any way I could share an idea with you. I too have been getting sick of ad dominated internet services
    - lenova 7y ago
      Hey Brian, great to see you on here. Any updates or thoughts as to where Signal is these days? I would love to switch over to it as my primary messenger, but the majority of my non-tech friends haven't heard of it before.
discordance 7y ago
I would rather pay than see ads and fall prey to all the targeting and data mining. Take my money Facebook, please.
- rprime 7y ago
  I am assuming that one of the reasons they won't let users pay to opt out of ads might be because paying users are the most valuable for advertisers. They wouldn't let their most valuable target pool out of the advertiser's hands.
- jsonne 7y ago
  That's already happening. Facebook has had a form of Whatsapp ads and targeting available on the ads dashboard for a while now. All the same ad targeting options as any other FB product/ ad placement.
isoprophlex 7y ago
WhatsApp is my primary messaging app, time to switch over to something else. It can go fuck itself sideways if FB starts adding ads. Some years ago there was the option of paying, which was removed around 2016. I understand that not everybody cares about this, but PLEASE give me the option not to see ads. There's enough bullshit advertising in my life already [] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/whatsapp-drops-subscription-fee-free https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/whatsapp-...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jotaf 7y ago
  Not affiliated in any way, but you should give Signal a try. The hardest part with any IM service is going to be convincing your friends to join though. I wish someone came up with a good way to overcome this "critical mass" problem.
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    It's never gonna happen. Mainstream users and media don't care enough.
    - hellcow 7y ago
      I've told the important people in my life that if they want to message me, they will need do it through Signal. It takes 2 minutes to set up, I show them how, and tell them that I won't reply to any SMS. Many switched, including the least technical people I know. A few did not. It's really not hard; you just have to draw a line in the sand. As a result of everyone I know using Signal, it fundamentally doesn't matter to me if the "mainstream" switches. We're already all on board.
      - eps 7y ago
        And then you end up in that situation when they didn't actually switch, but rather made you a favor and caved in to your self-centric demands and stubborness. Like with a tantrum-prone child. They still use WhatsApp between themselves, because that's what their dentist, car mechanic and a favourite sushi takeout use. They will also more eagerly reply to IMs if they are not sent through your preferred chat system. So in the end you technically made them do your thing, but the victory is hollow. Ask me how I know.
jillesvangurp 7y ago
Good, that will maybe drive more people to alternate platforms. The only reason I have it installed at all is that my non techie friends insist on using it for whatever reason. It's not like I have a shortage of similarly capable chat & call apps installed on my phone. E.g. Signal is pretty much there in terms of capabilities to take over. All that's needed is a gentle nudge. Some ads should help for that.
Bakary 7y ago
It's always funny to remember that the smartest people currently alive are probably in some FAANG office figuring out how to monetize online platforms through whatever means possible.
- zulgan 7y ago
  even more funny that in many cases they are stopped only by the law, and also in most cases they can only do some form of advertisement; if they could sell your soul for statistically significant conversion uplift, many people wont even think twice.
- skohan 7y ago
  That and inventing exotic financial instruments which benefit an infinitesimal fraction of the population.
- ionised 7y ago
  Why do you think they are the smartest people alive, compared to say, a scientist at CERN?
  - smacktoward 7y ago
    It's all explained by Worthington's Law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbU4VRs2rro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbU4VRs2rro
  - Bakary 7y ago
    I was parroting a classic quote [0], but you are right: my statement was needlessly cynical. To rephrase, I'd say an enormous proportion of the smartest humans alive are involved in zero-sum redistribution games that offer no socially useful outcomes. The costs of being poor and the rewards of being wealthy are each so enormous in our world that I can't blame them. [0] https://www.fastcompany.com/3008436/why-data-god-jeffrey-hammerbacher-left-facebook-found-cloudera https://www.fastcompany.com/3008436/why-data-god-jeffrey-ham...
    - chillacy 7y ago
Nextgrid 7y ago
Yet another thing consumed by the cancer that is advertising.
- rchaud 7y ago
  The real cancer is SV companies growing to an enormous scale without ever figuring out how to get people to pay for it. Once the price ceiling is $0, there is no other way to monetize except by destroying the experience with increasingly intrusive advertising.
mehdix 7y ago
I use WhatsApp for one single reason: it is not yet blocked in Iran so I can talk to my loved ones. Signal and Telegram for the rest.
xchaotic 7y ago
Why can't they just carry on charging people like they used to. Greed + middle management stupidity. Someone at Facebook is proud of their smartness and will probably get a title like Senior Manager for messaging advertising. The trouble with switching IM is that everyone needs to switch as well.
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago
  > Why can't they just carry on charging people like they used to They believe they can earn more from ads than they can from paying subscribers.
paglia_s 7y ago
In Europe, they're not going to use data from your FB account to show ads, right? Given that last year they agreed not to share data https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17120446/whatsapp-user-data-sharing-facebook-uk-privacy-ico-protection-gdpr-europe https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17120446/whatsapp-user-da...
vincent-toups 7y ago
Is there any popular web based business that isn't a bait and switch?
- fghtr 7y ago
  Not sure if popular, but Librem One is very promising.
aerodog 7y ago
Telegram time.

83 points by recursion 7y ago

> While ads themselves aren’t exactly the most welcome inclusion, this will be a much-preferred method than intrusive banner ads. There's no reason to believe it'll stop here. Instagram was ad-free for quite some time. Now every third or fourth post is a big, unmissable ad. Same thing in stories.

zuron7 7y ago
Use the web version. No ads. Use the app only when you need to post.
- dangus 7y ago
  Unpopular opinion here: Instagram ads are unobtrusive and easy to skip quickly. Being unwilling to pay for a platform and simultaneously being unwilling to be shown any advertisements is unsustainable. In the US, Facebook's revenue is $25 per user per quarter. That's $100 a year. Are you willing to pay the same or more than that just for access to their products? YouTube Premium actually is a great example of how much that pricing ends up being: $11.99 a month.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    I'm perfectly willing to pay for Instagram, they just don't give me the option.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - vitro 7y ago
    Your brain has seen them already, that is enough.. I don't want to pollute my mind if I can choose, ads are already omnipresent.
rchaud 7y ago
> Instagram was ad-free for quite some time. Now every third or fourth post is a big, unmissable ad. Same thing in stories. Stopped using Instagram because even the "organic" posts are ads or product placement of some sort. It seems like every time someone hits 10k subs or more, their content becomes >50% ads.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  I follow primarily friends, family, and a few hobbyists in my chosen hobbies (model trains, space/rockets, etc.). It's been no trouble to curate - more than one "sponsored" post probably means I unfollow you, as do memes. The end result (barring their ads) is a really nice feed of pictures that are either cool or interesting to me personally.
  - rchaud 7y ago
    Family and Friends post boring stuff for the most part. I was on Instagram for other things like photography, interior design and memes. The first 2 categories will obviously have "sponsor content", but when meme pages started shilling products, it was over for me.

b_tterc_p 7y ago

Has anyone here gone to the Facebook marketing summit? What’s that like? When they announce the intention to put more ads into the app, do people cheer?

pdog 7y ago

Here's a blog post from WhatsApp in 2012 on why they don't sell ads: https://web.archive.org/web/20120619170843/http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/06/why-we-dont-sell-ads/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120619170843/http://blog.whats...

isoprophlex 7y ago
Yeah, well, there's a reason the founders didn't get along with Zuckerberg et al. and bailed out after the takeover...
- dageshi 7y ago
  Easy enough to stick to your principles if the point was to sell the business from the beginning? No need to worry about profitability, just get big enough to sell then let whoever buys add the ads.
mehdix 7y ago
I remember when I read that article. It was a great idea. When they sold WhatsApp to Facebook however, I realized that this is potentially the fate of any for-profit business.
- brianacton 7y ago
  I agree. That's why I have become a much bigger champion for non-profit businesses.
  - liquid153 7y ago
    Longshot: Hey Brian any way I could share an idea with you. I too have been getting sick of ad dominated internet services
  - lenova 7y ago
    Hey Brian, great to see you on here. Any updates or thoughts as to where Signal is these days? I would love to switch over to it as my primary messenger, but the majority of my non-tech friends haven't heard of it before.

discordance 7y ago

I would rather pay than see ads and fall prey to all the targeting and data mining. Take my money Facebook, please.

rprime 7y ago
I am assuming that one of the reasons they won't let users pay to opt out of ads might be because paying users are the most valuable for advertisers. They wouldn't let their most valuable target pool out of the advertiser's hands.
jsonne 7y ago
That's already happening. Facebook has had a form of Whatsapp ads and targeting available on the ads dashboard for a while now. All the same ad targeting options as any other FB product/ ad placement.

isoprophlex 7y ago

WhatsApp is my primary messaging app, time to switch over to something else. It can go fuck itself sideways if FB starts adding ads. Some years ago there was the option of paying, which was removed around 2016. I understand that not everybody cares about this, but PLEASE give me the option not to see ads. There's enough bullshit advertising in my life already [] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/whatsapp-drops-subscription-fee-free https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/whatsapp-...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jotaf 7y ago
Not affiliated in any way, but you should give Signal a try. The hardest part with any IM service is going to be convincing your friends to join though. I wish someone came up with a good way to overcome this "critical mass" problem.
- mav3rick 7y ago
  It's never gonna happen. Mainstream users and media don't care enough.
  - hellcow 7y ago
    I've told the important people in my life that if they want to message me, they will need do it through Signal. It takes 2 minutes to set up, I show them how, and tell them that I won't reply to any SMS. Many switched, including the least technical people I know. A few did not. It's really not hard; you just have to draw a line in the sand. As a result of everyone I know using Signal, it fundamentally doesn't matter to me if the "mainstream" switches. We're already all on board.
    - eps 7y ago
      And then you end up in that situation when they didn't actually switch, but rather made you a favor and caved in to your self-centric demands and stubborness. Like with a tantrum-prone child. They still use WhatsApp between themselves, because that's what their dentist, car mechanic and a favourite sushi takeout use. They will also more eagerly reply to IMs if they are not sent through your preferred chat system. So in the end you technically made them do your thing, but the victory is hollow. Ask me how I know.

jillesvangurp 7y ago

Good, that will maybe drive more people to alternate platforms. The only reason I have it installed at all is that my non techie friends insist on using it for whatever reason. It's not like I have a shortage of similarly capable chat & call apps installed on my phone. E.g. Signal is pretty much there in terms of capabilities to take over. All that's needed is a gentle nudge. Some ads should help for that.

Bakary 7y ago

It's always funny to remember that the smartest people currently alive are probably in some FAANG office figuring out how to monetize online platforms through whatever means possible.

zulgan 7y ago
even more funny that in many cases they are stopped only by the law, and also in most cases they can only do some form of advertisement; if they could sell your soul for statistically significant conversion uplift, many people wont even think twice.
skohan 7y ago
That and inventing exotic financial instruments which benefit an infinitesimal fraction of the population.
ionised 7y ago
Why do you think they are the smartest people alive, compared to say, a scientist at CERN?
- smacktoward 7y ago
  It's all explained by Worthington's Law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbU4VRs2rro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbU4VRs2rro
- Bakary 7y ago
  I was parroting a classic quote [0], but you are right: my statement was needlessly cynical. To rephrase, I'd say an enormous proportion of the smartest humans alive are involved in zero-sum redistribution games that offer no socially useful outcomes. The costs of being poor and the rewards of being wealthy are each so enormous in our world that I can't blame them. [0] https://www.fastcompany.com/3008436/why-data-god-jeffrey-hammerbacher-left-facebook-found-cloudera https://www.fastcompany.com/3008436/why-data-god-jeffrey-ham...
  - chillacy 7y ago

Nextgrid 7y ago

Yet another thing consumed by the cancer that is advertising.

rchaud 7y ago
The real cancer is SV companies growing to an enormous scale without ever figuring out how to get people to pay for it. Once the price ceiling is $0, there is no other way to monetize except by destroying the experience with increasingly intrusive advertising.

mehdix 7y ago

I use WhatsApp for one single reason: it is not yet blocked in Iran so I can talk to my loved ones. Signal and Telegram for the rest.

xchaotic 7y ago

Why can't they just carry on charging people like they used to. Greed + middle management stupidity. Someone at Facebook is proud of their smartness and will probably get a title like Senior Manager for messaging advertising. The trouble with switching IM is that everyone needs to switch as well.

JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> Why can't they just carry on charging people like they used to They believe they can earn more from ads than they can from paying subscribers.

paglia_s 7y ago

In Europe, they're not going to use data from your FB account to show ads, right? Given that last year they agreed not to share data https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17120446/whatsapp-user-data-sharing-facebook-uk-privacy-ico-protection-gdpr-europe https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17120446/whatsapp-user-da...

vincent-toups 7y ago

Is there any popular web based business that isn't a bait and switch?

fghtr 7y ago
Not sure if popular, but Librem One is very promising.

aerodog 7y ago

Telegram time.