• by Karla Fernandez Parker , Columnist, April 20, 2018

Ask the average U.S. social media user if they know about the messaging and Voice Over IP application called WhatsApp, and you will most likely get a shrug and a quizzical, “What app?”

According to Techcrunch WhatsApp has 1.5 billion monthly users. That’s a lot of people who know what’s up with WhatsApp.

Latinos are driving usage here in the U.S. In fact, according to a new study by Pew Research, 49% of U.S. Latinos are using the app representing the highest usage among any ethnic group in the country.

To understand why, you only have to know WhatsApp’s appeal. First, it’s free. In many countries outside of the U.S., SMS texting isn’t charged at a flat rate but rather at a per-text rate. Also, on many cellular plans SMS isn’t even included but rather an add-on feature. Add to this the higher cost of cell phone voice calling charges per minute in many countries like Mexico, Brazil and Peru, and you can understand why the free app is so popular.

WhatsApp was started by two former Yahoo programmers in California in 2009 and then eventually was purchased by Facebook in 2014 for $19.3 billion. It was already wildly popular overseas in countries where texting and cell phone calls are not cheap. It should be of little surprise one of the cofounders is a U.S. immigrant.

Facebook believes it is sitting on something huge; otherwise, it wouldn’t have paid so much for the service. The recent announcement of a business version of the app may be the first step toward a return on that investment.

Currently, there is only an Android version of the business app. Users can create business profiles, use messaging tools to create greeting messages, away messages and quick replies. There are also messaging statistics and an interface that works on desktops and laptops.

For U.S. Latinos, WhatsApp has opened a very affordable way to connect with friends and loved ones back home in Latin America and Mexico. Being free and easy means it was only a matter of time before its usage spread through family and friends staying connected. The business version now opens up new ways for businesses to connect with loyal users of the app. It will be interesting to see how Facebook turns that popularity into profits.