Facebook Inc's WhatsApp messenger
service will start charging businesses for sending marketing and
customer service messages, it said on Wednesday, as the social
network company's flagship brand faces slowing usage and revenue
growth.
The messages will be charged at a fixed rate for confirmed
delivery, ranging from 0.5 cents to 9 cents per message
depending on the country, WhatsApp said.
Facebook has been looking at ways to monetize its WhatsApp
service in the face of rising costs as it spends heavily to
improve privacy safeguards and tackles concerns about social
media addiction.
WhatsApp, which has around 1.5 billion users, said starting
Wednesday businesses can use its WhatsApp Business API to
send notifications such as shipping confirmations, appointment
reminders and event tickets.
WhatsApp acknowledged that it is charging a premium compared
to SMS rates. Wireless carriers typically charge businesses well
below a penny per SMS, and the price is still close to a penny
when including fees collected by intermediaries between carriers
and businesses.
WhatsApp had announced in January it would start allowing
small business accounts to communicate through the WhatsApp
Business application, which has over 3 million active users.
Chief operating officer Matt Idema said at the time that the
WhatsApp intends to charge businesses in the future.
Facebook also said on Wednesday that users on its namesake
app and Instagram can now see the amount of time they spend on
the app each day and receive notifications when they exceed a
self-prescribed threshold. Users also can mute notifications
from the apps for up to eight hours.