Social Messaging Apps

The rapid rise of social messaging apps (chat apps) over the past few years is often attributed to its appeal to its youthful appeal. Rather than consolidating all of their community dialogues on one network like Facebook, today’s audiences seek a more decentralized and private social network.

The growth of chat apps like  WhatsApp (Links to an external site.), Facebook Messenger (Links to an external site.), China’s WeChat (Links to an external site.) , QQ Messenger (Links to an external site.), Telegram (Links to an external site.), Viber (Links to an external site.), Line (Links to an external site.), and Snapchat (Links to an external site.) to mobile IM to a new level. Its growth surpassed that of social networks and users benefited from:

• A text messaging alternative superior to SMS
• Social networking elements more conveniently activated.
• Privacy more secured than that of communities served by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (e.g., ephemeral content on Snapchat that quickly erases regretful postings)
• Image result for chat app trends

Evidence of the growing popularity of social messaging apps can be seen in the numbers. Just consider the following:

• 4 of the top 6 social networks (worldwide) are chat apps
• Visual content shared on WhatsApp and Snapchat exceeds that shared on Facebook and its affiliate, Instagram
• More users on now more monthly active on WhatsApp and WeChat than on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter combined
• Facebook paid $18 billion for WhatsApp

In part because of its growing popularity among Millennials and Gen Z, brands find these apps especially appealing because of their one-to-one direct messaging. Using push notifications, these apps essentially allow the build of proprietary audiences much like that of an email list. But the key to introducing marketing messages is to join rather than disrupt conversations. And to do this in a “no ads allowed” setting like that of WhatsApp becomes very challenging. Some progress has been made in brand involvement, however, with non-US apps. China’s WeChat and Japan’s LINE allow brands to promote their offerings through games, digital stickers and even online shopping.

The rapid rise of social messaging apps (chat apps) over the past few years is often attributed to its appeal to its youthful appeal. Rather than consolidating all of their community dialogues on one network like Facebook, today’s audiences seek a more decentralized and private social network.

The growth of chat apps like  WhatsApp (Links to an external site.), Facebook Messenger (Links to an external site.), China’s WeChat (Links to an external site.) , QQ Messenger (Links to an external site.), Telegram (Links to an external site.), Viber (Links to an external site.), Line (Links to an external site.), and Snapchat (Links to an external site.) to mobile IM to a new level. Its growth surpassed that of social networks and users benefited from:

• A text messaging alternative superior to SMS
• Social networking elements more conveniently activated.
• Privacy more secured than that of communities served by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (e.g., ephemeral content on Snapchat that quickly erases regretful postings)
• Image result for chat app trends

Evidence of the growing popularity of social messaging apps can be seen in the numbers. Just consider the following:

• 4 of the top 6 social networks (worldwide) are chat apps
• Visual content shared on WhatsApp and Snapchat exceeds that shared on Facebook and its affiliate, Instagram
• More users on now more monthly active on WhatsApp and WeChat than on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter combined
• Facebook paid $18 billion for WhatsApp

In part because of its growing popularity among Millennials and Gen Z, brands find these apps especially appealing because of their one-to-one direct messaging. Using push notifications, these apps essentially allow the build of proprietary audiences much like that of an email list. But the key to introducing marketing messages is to join rather than disrupt conversations. And to do this in a “no ads allowed” setting like that of WhatsApp becomes very challenging. Some progress has been made in brand involvement, however, with non-US apps. China’s WeChat and Japan’s LINE allow brands to promote their offerings through games, digital stickers and even online shopping.