> Status could also open up new advertising opportunities for WhatsApp. If it followed Snap and Instagram’s lead, it could insert full-screen ads in-between friends’ Statuses.
I really liked WhatsApp's business model before the aquisition : user's pay a small annual fee to use the app. What was cool to see was that the network effects were so strong that people who had never paid for an app or subscription service paid for WhatsApp. If they kept the service paid I doubt it would have reached the 1 billion users mark so quickly, but just humour me here : with 1 billion users they would have atleast 1 billion dollars in ARR. That would have been cool. They could have focused on what they do best : provide a no BS end to end encrypted messenger which respects the user's privacy. (Yes, I am aware of Signal and I use it).
I am curious to see how Facebook balances the need to monetize vs to the need to maintain WhatsApp's reputation as a service that respects users' privacy.