We move into the third year of the pandemic, we are all tired of being in front of the dating cameras.But it can be hard to remember a person’s name if you can’t picture their face, so it’s suggested that you turn on your video to help make better connections.Since the beginning of this year, a series of ads have appeared on television screens and billboards across the United States, with ominous warnings for texters.“I think I left the car unlocked, can you check?” reads a text message displayed on one of the tables. The consequence, outlined next to the bubble in text form.
If your personal texts are not end-to-end America Cell Phone Number List encrypted, they are not private.”In a TV ad, a postman hands out already-opened letters and packages to outraged recipients, before telling them that “every text you send is as open as your letters”.These warnings are being brought to attention by WhatsApp, the mobile messaging service that was acquired by Facebook in 2014. While WhatsApp has grown into a behemoth since then, used by more than a quarter of the world’s population, the reach of platform in the domestic market remains relatively small.
Data shared with CNN Business by research firm eMarketer shows that WhatsApp had fewer than 63 million users in the United States as of last year, or about 19% of the country’s population. This is far behind its audience in countries such as India, Brazil and Indonesia, where it is among the most popular modes of communication. India alone has nearly 500 million WhatsApp users according to eMarketer, which is more than a third of its population and over half of its Internet user base.This is the first time WhatsApp, which declined to share statistics on how many users it currently has in the United States, has run an advertising campaign in the country.
