WhatsApp Tops 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last week that WhatsApp was approaching 1 billion monthly active users, and that milestone was surpassed Monday.

News of the cross-platform messaging application topping 1 billion MAUs was shared in a WhatsApp blog post and by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum and Zuckerberg.

WhatsApp said in its blog post:

As of today, 1 billion people are using WhatsApp.

That’s nearly one in seven people on Earth who use WhatsApp each month to stay in touch with their loved ones, their friends and their family.

We are proud of this milestone, and we’re humbled by the extraordinary ways all of you have used WhatsApp. Whether it’s sharing vital information during natural disasters or health emergencies, finding a date, growing a small business, buying an engagement ring or seeking a better life–we’re honored to be a small part of what people are doing to make their lives and the lives of those around them better.

Koum shared the graphic below containing the following statistics about WhatsApp:

• 42 billion messages sent per day.
• 1.6 billion photos shared per day.
• 1 billion groups.
• 53 languages supported.
• 250 million videos shared per day.
• 57 engineers (and Koum noted that the company is looking to grow that total).

He wrote:

1 billion users. Couldn’t be more proud of our small team doing so much in just seven years.

And Zuckerberg wrote:

WhatsApp’s community has more than doubled since joining Facebook. We’ve added the ability for you to call loved ones far away. We’ve dropped the subscription fee and made WhatsApp completely free. Next, we’re going to work to connect more people around the world and make it easier to communicate with businesses.

There are only a few services that connect more than 1 billion people. This milestone is an important step toward connecting the entire world.

Readers: What are your thoughts on WhatsApp reaching 1 billion monthly active users?

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