Why Facebook Bought WhatsApp?

Keeping it simple, my ‘Top 3’ thoughts:

1) Active User base = The Big Bucks $$$$

Bottom line: For a Social Network, ‘em Active users matter!

An estimated 450 million people use WhatsApp each month, with 70 percent of those using it on any given day. That’s almost matching Facebook’s active user base ratio. For Facebook, it’s prime real estate. You do the math.

2) Innovation through acquisition?

Whatever happened to FB Messenger and Home (remember)? But then again, why re-invent the wheel?

3) Instagram acquisition trend to continue..

We have seen this acquisition trend before with YouTube, Instagram and now WhatsApp. This will continue, and hopefully drive rapid innovation in technology. Dissecting this strategically, here’s my take:

• Get your app (or game) to go viral - How? Solve a simple real-life problem with an even simpler user experience. (Easier written) Okay, so we have a killer experience. Now the hard part - Scale it - The two important metrics that drive direct engagement (and value): Active Users and Content.

• Scale it - Get those millions of active users - How?
  Uh, Who doesn’t like simple? Aim for a 'Single Click’ or gesture-driven experience that works without seeing failure screens?

• Get those users to create content - How?
  Everyone loves free. Users create content at a record pace today - hoping for their content to go viral. It can be video (YouTube) or pictures (Instagram) or simple messages (WhatsApp). Filter out the noise, surface quality content and build out an interest/social graph.

Check, check, check on all of the above and you have a prime, multi-acre oceanfront piece of real estate in the French Riviera.. Lots of big buyers!

Don’t worry, FB (or whatever social network prevails in 2016) - will snap you up - Good luck!

If you want to read and contemplate further, here’s how it all went down on 2/19:

Post lunch ~2PM PST 2/19
“FB to buy WhatsApp for $16B”.

Post dinner ~9PM PST 2/19
“Was FB terrified about Whatsapp”

Put on your thinking cap, we can be talking millions if not billions of $$ ..