Facebook Messenger wants to replace the telephone, not just SMS, and its on its way. Messenger now makes up 10% of global Voice Over IP calls, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during today’s Q1 2015 earnings call.
Considering Facebook only fully rolled out free VOIP calling to Messenger last April, it’s already becoming a legitimate competitor to apps like Skype. And just yesterday it began rolling out free VOIP calls to WhatsApp on iOS after bringing the feature to Android last month.
Meanwhile, Messenger is still exploding as a text message alternative. Its 600 million monthly users now send an average of 45 million messages per day.
At this rate, messaging is beginning to look like a Facebook-dominated game outside of China. With Messenger popular in the US and WhatsApp winning in Europe and the developing world, it’s only China where Facebook can’t operate that another service, WeChat, is on top in a major market.
While Facebook might not try to monetize phone calls or text messaging directly, Messenger drives usage of Facebook’s social network where it earns money on ads. It’s a unique strategy that gives Facebook a huge advantage on mobile where cramming ads and payment channels everywhere can feel obtrusive. Instead, Facebook can keep most of its apps and experiences clean and free since it makes so much money on ads in its main app — $3.32 billion in Q1 2015 alone.
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