WhatsApp has announced they have 400 million active monthly users. That’s not registered users, or total downloads. That’s not 400 million people that have used the service somehow, some way, at some point. That number represents 400 million people who use WhatsApp at least once a month.
That’s a 100 million user jump in four months, and 50 million in the past two months. Again, we’re talking active monthly users, not total. Whatsapp says they want the discussion to be about monthly users, not overall numbers. “We want to steer the conversation to be about active users, not registered users. We’re a bit fed up and frustrated about people talking about registered users. We think it’s important for us as a leader in the space to speak up and be ethical.” WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum told All Things D.
The mobile messaging arms race seems to be a collision course between Snapchat and WhatsApp at this point. Both have similar upward trajectories, and both have seen their share of buyout rumors. Snapchat has recently been courted by many big names, including a rumored $3 billion offer From Facebook. WhatsApp was said to have been approached by none other than Google, but denies that any offer was close to being struck.
With 400 million active users, you have to think WhatsApp would see some amazing traffic. They do. The company says users send 16 billion messages daily. For a company of just 50, that’s a lot to consider. When you factor in the 500 million images daily — which is more than Snapchat, just to twist the knife — you really get an idea of what’s going on.
VIA: The Next Web
I don’t know a single person that uses WhatsApp. When Facebook was at 600 millions users (or registered users – whatever it really was), there were few I knew that WEREN’T on Facebook. I’m having a hard time believing these numbers.
Many of my friends and I use WhatsApp. A lot of them live Internationally, which is where the application has been very popular for some time now. It is also really good for International communication (as opposed to texting and calling which gets expensive…WhatsApp is free.)