How Popular Is WhatsApp Around the World?

How much do you rely on your WhatsApp?

Many people in Ghana use the messaging app to keep up with friends, family, gossip and news.

You might be in a number of groups, ranging from schoolmates to motivational workout groups to special interest business ones.

About one billion people use the free messaging service across the world.

According to the WhatsAppfor website, its services are more popular than Facebook chat.

WhatsApp was invented in the United States, but surprisingly, it’s not all that popular there. 2014 data from Statisca shows only 8% of Americans use it.

But across the rest of the world, it has become an essential communication tool, including here in Ghana.

How to use WhatsApp

For WhatsApp to work, you just need a phone number to set it up and an internet connection to run it.

If you are at home or work using your Teledata connection you will be able to send and receive your messages in a flash.

It is great for sending messages, including pictures, video, and audio, between countries too.

The website also says WhatsApp seems to be most popular in less affluent countries. In these countries, many people use smartphones as their primary means of communication.

Ghana is one of these. Just scroll through your own contacts or groups you are in and you’ll see how widely it is used here.

Even businesses, like us at Teledata, use it as a way for customers to keep in touch.

The co-founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum has previously commended Ghana for its innovative approach to using its mobile application. In 2014 he said Ghana was using the product in a way he and Brian Acton — the other Co-founder — had never envisaged.

He had heard that in Ghana university students use the app to hold discussions with their lecturers, and compare notes among themselves in a group.

What do you think of WhatsApp? Are you a fan? Comment below and let us know!