With over 2 billion active users every single month, no messaging app even comes close to touching WhatsApp when it comes to its worldwide popularity. It was the first messaging app I downloaded when I got my first smartphone, and to date, it is still pretty much my messaging app of choice.
With such immense popularity, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the development team behind WhatsApp has put a lot of work into improving the application over the years. However, at this point, so much has been added that you can argue it is now a social media app—likes and mentions on status updates cement that.
Avoid Unwanted Conversations; You Can Now Like WhatsApp Statuses, Just Like Instagram
When WhatsApp statuses became a thing, I was pretty annoyed. The app was trying to dilute its essence and become like some of the other players like Instagram and Snapchat. The good thing is that I was pretty quickly able to embrace the change and WhatsApp statuses have become one of my favorite features in the app.
The only thing that I can say that I don’t like when it comes to interacting with WhatsApp statuses is the inability to show someone that I like what they posted without risking starting an entire conversation with them. On Instagram, I can like a story. On WhatsApp, I have to send a message. Unfortunately, that means my introverted self will simply opt not to say anything whatsoever.
That’s about to change and oh, I feel overjoyed. Now, WhatsApp statuses are going to get a heart icon in the bottom right that you can use to like a status. This way, you can show people that you like what they’ve put up, without needing to do too much. Only that person will be able to see everyone who has liked their status.
Mentions Make It Possible For Others To Reshare Your Status Updates
Likes aren’t the only new thing coming to WhatsApp statuses. The power of private mentions is coming. This will allow you to essentially tag someone to the statuses that you post, though only they’ll be able to know that they were tagged. This means you can make sure that they see it without everyone else knowing that.
The coolest part is that when a person is mentioned in a WhatsApp status, it finally brings the ability to reshare that status. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.
Are WhatsApp Status Likes And Mentions Available Yet?
At the moment, these new status features are already rolling out in some regions. On my side of the world, I’m yet to see the new features show up, but WhatsApp says that it’ll be available globally “soon”, so I’m going to be here patiently waiting for these changes to land on my shores.
What do you think of WhatsApp turning into a social media app? If it doesn’t impede its initial purpose—being a messaging app—does it really matter if Meta decides to add all sorts of extra bells and whistles? Let us know your take in the comments.
