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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 2 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 1.058s | source
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robertlagrant ◴[16 Jun 25 14:20 UTC] No.44289775[source]▶
> When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, the messaging app had a clear focus. No ads, no games and no gimmicks.

This sort of analysis is very surface-level I think. My impression is WhatsApp offered that by running on VC money and had no plan to run an actual business. That's not a question of focus. It's an unsustainable, please monetise me later land grab.

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1. like_any_other ◴[16 Jun 25 22:16 UTC] No.44293894[source]▶
It's called bait-and-switch - lure users in away from (possibly FOSS, e.g. Matrix) competitors, and when you have enough network effects that switching becomes hard, spring the trap.
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2. udev4096 ◴[17 Jun 25 04:12 UTC] No.44295694[source]▶
People I know on matrix hardly ever use WhatsCrap or migrated to it. Most of them either stick to Signal or just matrix