What the Whatsapp acquisition tells us about Facebook's mobile strategy

Outside of the US, texting across different carriers often cost money. WhatsApp is a better messaging service because it is so light-weight and provides users with exactly what they want. They just want to TEXT. Users just want the simplest app to just text. And WhatsApp is much preferred because it loads much faster than fb messenger and resembles the traditional texting experience.

Is this a tacit admission from FB that Zuckerberg's statements from past conferences on how people want to share everything is basically wrong?

People don't want to share everything with everyone. They want to share what they want with the people they want.

I disagree with the article. This was Facebook countering an existential threat to their core business.

What it tells us is simple and people keep trying to make more of it than it is.

Users are leaving Facebook in droves. Facebook is buying back users who's attention they have lost.

People are migrating to other services that offer a better experience for the task at hand. This is what Facebook/Google/Microsoft keep forgetting.

FB bought Instagram because their own photo feature wasn't as good and that's where they sensed people would be moving to. They've mostly left IG alone and it's been good.

WhatsApp is a better IM experience. Facebook buys them to get back users that have left.

The thing to remember is that people leaving something like Facebook isn't "I'm deleting my account", it's inattention attrition. Facebook users don't die (mostly), they just stop caring.

So FB buying WA doesn't mean much except FB is trying to alter its course. To their credit, they have the foresight to see they're failing and attempt a course correction.

Nope. Not at all.

It was about buying USERS, not an app or feature.