by Colin Kirkland
Source: www.mediapost.com, July 2024
According to Mark Zuckerberg’s WhatsApp channel, the social messaging app has amassed 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., becoming the tech giant’s fourth social-media platform — including Instagram, Facebook and Messenger — to do so.
Having maintained its position as the most popular messaging app in the world, at 2.78 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is just starting to become more popular in the United States, with Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Seattle driving a major portion of the uptick in domestic users.
Southern states are driving “significant growth” as well, with over 10 million active users in Texas alone, according to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp adoption among U.S. users has been on the rise over the past two years. According to Apptopia, daily users grew by 9% in 2023.
A recent report by CNBC contributor and founder of the Big Tech newsletter Alex Kantrowitz also lists the popularity of large messaging groups as an alternative to email chains, increased international travel among Americans and the ease at which Android and Apple iOS users can communicate as prominent reasons for the ongoing increase in domestic usership.
Meta has also worked to build out WhatsApp as a conversational hub for businesses and their customers.
The platform has made a point in prioritizing partnerships and in-app features that support business transactions, including naming Dentsu as its customer-relationship solution provider.
In 2023, the app’s daily business users increased by 80% in the U.S., following a 122% leap the previous year.
Across the globe, there are now over 200 million monthly active users on WhatsApp’s dedicated Business offering, according to Statista.
In addition, despite advertisers’ inability to advertise directly on WhatsApp, they are able to stoke conversation through Click to Message ads and in brand-focused in-app chat groups and communities for both curious and devoted customers.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement that “this is the first time data pertaining to users has been released since Meta’s acquisition of the messaging app” for $16 billion in 2014.
