Messaging Apps and Business: Overview of the most important Messaging Apps worldwide!
Our series about Messaging Apps & Brands focuses exclusively on the topic of business opportunities and Messaging Apps. Which business options do these chat apps offer companies? The following hub-article quickly introduces the various messaging apps and links to the more in-depth article. Our selection of messaging apps will continuously be extended.
Quick Links:
- World of Messaging Apps: WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger Dominate Worldwide
- The Most Important Messaging Apps at a Glance
1. World of Messaging Apps: WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger dominate worldwide
Facebook’s two messaging apps dominate the global messaging market. There are also a few “regional heroes” dominate the local messaging markets. These include WeChat, Line and Viber, which don’t have as much of a global pull, but which are very popular in individual markets and regions.
„In addition, we estimate that more than 2.1 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger (our „Family“ of services) every day on average, and more than 2.7 billion people use at least one of our Family of services each month.“ Source: Facebook, Q2 Report 2019
The Facebook messaging apps are the top benchmark when it comes to active users worldwide. The number 1 messaging app is WhatsApp with 1.6 billion active users, closely followed by Facebook Messenger with 1.3 billion users and the Chinese messaging app WeChat with 1.1 billion users. Instagram follows with over one billion users and the Chinese QQ messaging App has over 800 million active users.
If one “only” considers the user numbers of the top 3 most popular messaging apps worldwide, the enormous popularity of chat apps becomes even clearer: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat have over four billion active monthly users together.
“Our biggest competitor by far is iMessage. In important countries like the US where the iPhone is strong, Apple has iMessage as the default texting app, and it’s still ahead.” Source: Mark Zuckerberg
In addition to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and “regional heroes,” we can’t ignore messaging apps that are pre-installed on smartphones, such as Apple’s iMessage (free of charge for all iOS users) and Apple Business Chat or Google’s Android Messages or Google Chat. These messaging apps are also critical for understanding the market as a whole.
“This gives Apple a potential reach of about 1.3 billion users globally, as Apple-CEO Tim Cook confirmed in January 2018 : “We’ve also achieved a significant milestone with our active installed base of devices reaching 1.3 billion in January. That’s an increase of 30 percent in just two years.” Source : MessengerPeople
2. The Most Important Messaging Apps at a Glance
Here we’ve summed up the most important things to know about the world’s most popular messaging apps.
Apple Business Chat
Apple Business Chat was rolled out worldwide at the beginning of October 2018 and is now available through officially announced Apple collaborators. MessengerPeople supports Apple Business Chat .
With the introduction of Apple Business Chat, companies now have a new platform to communicate with their target audience via Apple’s “News” app. There are a wide range of features, from appointment scheduling, to Apple Pay shopping, to professional customer service including Chatbots.
Instagram Direct Messenger
With one billion users a month, 90 percent of whom follow at least one company, Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most important social media channels for businesses. This is also because users find it overwhelmingly positive when businesses are active on Instagram.
Businesses that want to work efficiently usually want to use a single platform to respond to messages from multiple channels. The Messenger API for Instagram now allows businesses to manage messages initiated by customers throughout their Instagram presence, including profiles, stores, and stories.
👉 Use Instagram Direct Messages successfully for customer service
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger (Facebook officially calls it just “Messenger”) was launched in 2011. Before that, it was known as Facebook Chat and was part of the original Facebook App. It can be used both on mobile or on desktop.
With over 1.3 billion active users per month, Facebook Messenger is the world’s No. 2 messaging app after WhatsApp. In addition, there are already more than 300,000 chatbots on FB Messenger and over 500 billion emojis sent in 2017.
To find out more about Facebook Messenger read our article Messaging & Brands: Facebook Messenger .
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WhatsApp Messenger has been around since 2009. Five years after the launch, Facebook bought WhatsApp for approx. 20 bn. Dollars. In addition to WhatsApp, the parent company Facebook owns Facebook Messenger and Instagram. WhatsApp can be used via mobile and on desktop. In addition to WhatsApp Messenger, the company now also has the WhatsApp Business App and the WhatsApp Business API for implementing WhatsApp in customer communication. The importance of WhatsApp worldwide can be summarized in these words: “It’s clear that WhatsApp is the global messaging app of choice.”
Read more about WhatsApp Messenger in our article Messaging & Brands: WhatsApp Messenger .
WeChat Messenger was introduced in 2011. The parent company, Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd. (short: Tencent), was founded in 1998 – the same year when QQ Messenger, which also belongs to Tencent, went live.
Find out more about WeChat Messenger in the article Messaging & Brands: WeChat Messenger .
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LINE
LINE Messenger went live in 2011. LINE Corporation is a daughter company of the South-Korean corporate group Naver.
Apart from the messaging function, LINE has many other interesting features. The LINE Messenger earns its money with stickers, games, LINE Friends (various sticker characters), LINE Taxi, LINE Pay and LINE Wow (access to delivery services for food etc.). The messaging app has grown profitably over the past years and is the top chat app in Japan. LINE also is extremely popular in Taiwan, Thailand and Turkmenistan. The app is available in 17 languages.
Read more about LINE Messenger in this article: Messaging & Brands: LINE Messenger .
Viber
Viber Messenger was brought on the market in 2010. The company Viber Media, which was founded in Tel Aviv, has been around since 1998. As of 2017, Viber is officially named Rakuten Viber, after the Japanese Corporation which gained a majority holding in 2014.
In contrast to LINE, Viber relies heavily on the original chat feature, which is the app’s main draw. Viber is particularly popular with users in Eastern Europe and Russia. In Russia, Viber actually surpassed WhatsApp in 2018 with 100 million users.
More about Viber Messenger is available here: Messaging & Brands: Viber Messenger .
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