The widely popular messaging giant, Whatsapp recently appointed Facebook executive Matt Idema as its first-ever COO. Idema will focus on monetization of the app and might introduce user-friendly tools for the same.
Whatsapp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for a $22 billion purchase deal. The messaging app does not charge any subscription fee and neither offers in-app purchases. Thus, the company is yet to see how the new head carries out the task of bringing in monetary benefits for the company.
Previously, Matt Idema was leading product marketing for all of Facebook’s business products worldwide. Further, he will assist the widely popular chat company to economize as well as supervise the team. Whatsapp presently has a team of 200 employees with Idema as the sole test partner.
Announcing the news, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said,
Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from. That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight.
We all get these messages elsewhere today — through text messages and phone calls — so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.
According to recent rumors, Whatsapp is currently testing a Snapchat-like Status feature. The team is also engaged in the development of certain video features as well. Though time has arrived to generate money, but the company has been stuck with its anti-advertising policy.
From the very beginning, Whatsapp has avoided advertising which brings in massive revenues for other social giants. But, the company had recently made changes to its privacy policy which now allows it to share user data (doesn’t involve phone number) with its parent Facebook. This sharing of data will enable WhatsApp to build the bridge for onboarding businesses on the platform that should be happening sometime soon.
Whatsapp currently has a user base of over 1.2 billion monthly active users which is steadily growing day by day. Viewing its huge popularity, there is no doubt that the app can make money any day it wants but it’ll have to face some serious competition. As for Idema, the COO will begin his tenure in the coming weeks and be accountable to Koum itself.
