Whatsapp just hit a billion users. Here’s why it matters. A lot.

Image credit: Whatsapp.

Whatsapp co-founder Jan Koum today announced on Facebook (where else?) that it has reached the massive milestone of a billion users, making it the most dominant chat app in the world.

Just how dominant is it? Here’s a chart comparing Whatsapp’s monthly active users (MAUs) with its major competitors:

The story here isn’t the dominance of Whatsapp, but how Facebook has the chat app space outside of China pretty much locked up. Whatsapp, as you probably know, was acquired by the social network. WeChat, meanwhile, is everywhere in China, but still catching up with other apps outside of the country.

Where the other apps have the edge on the Facebook collective though is in the area of making money, as this next chart shows:

It’s not even close. Line has figured out a plethora of ways to bring in the dough. It sells digital stickers, merchandise, virtual goods, and advertising. It’s less a chat app now and more of a “chat commerce” service.

WeChat has headed in the same direction: in China, you can do almost anything on the app, as my colleague Erik Crouch found out. You can order a taxi, set your alarm, catch up on the news, or even redeem restaurant deals.

Given its user count, I won’t be surprised if it’s making more money than Line.

Crossing the line

Whatsapp’s billion-user milestone could mark the start of a more aggressive drive towards making itself a cash cow.

True, Facebook may be laser-focused on ramping up advertising on Instagram, which at 400 million monthly active users and possessing the hip factor among youths, is nothing to laugh at.