Globally, users make over 55 million video calls per day
India has yet again broken the world record by making 50 million minutes of video calls daily via WhatsApp, the highest compared to the other parts of the globe.
The latest figures can be considered as evidence of the strong bonds shared by the Indians, who are remarkable for the strength of their relationships or the too much involvement of social media in the daily life of the Indians?
WhatsApp Messenger, a freeware, cross-platform and end-to-end encrypted instant messaging application for smartphones became widely popular in India in the past few years.
Though previously it was only a chatting app, later its updated versions included voice calls, one to one video, images, GIF, videos, documents, user location, audio files, phone contacts and voice notes. Recently, it also incorporated a feature called Status, which allows users to upload photos and videos to a 24-hours-lifetime feed that, by default, are visible to all contacts; similar to Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram Stories.
The video calling feature that was incorporated in the popular messaging app in November last year set it as a strong competitor to the former video calling apps like Microsoft’s Skype, Apple’s FaceTime and Google Duo. Since then, it has seen a steady growth in usage.
The driving factors that induced its rapid growth in usage were the falling data prices and free promotional data by a new comer, Reliance Jio.
Globally, users make over 55 million video calls per day, spending more than 340 million minutes daily on these calls. As per data shared by WhatsApp, India is the top country for video calling minutes with over 50 million video calling minutes per day that is somewhere possible because of the availability of easy internet access.
WhatsApp is also home to over 200 million monthly active users. This is the highest base for WhatsApp that has over a billion users worldwide.
WhatsApp has been working on solutions to enable businesses to use its platform to connect with consumers and India, it says, will play a “crucial role” for the product.
While the Facebook-owned company declared that it will not introduce third-party advertisements on its platform, it is testing tools that allow users to communicate with businesses and organizations like banks and airlines through its platform.
WhatsApp has been working on introducing features to enhance engagement on the platform. It is attempting to swoop into digital payment services, with India as a test bed.
As per the Economic Times, the company is looking to hire a digital transactions head for the country. In February, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton had met IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss ways in which WhatsApp could contribute to India’s vision for digital commerce.