{"id":14704,"date":"2016-11-15T22:42:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T03:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/zapzap-how-whatsapp-transformed-communications-in-brazil\/"},"modified":"2016-11-15T22:42:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T03:42:16","slug":"zapzap-how-whatsapp-transformed-communications-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/zapzap-how-whatsapp-transformed-communications-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cZapZap\u201d: How WhatsApp transformed communications in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazil is the 5th<\/sup> largest country in the world[1]<\/a> and currently the 13th<\/sup> most unequal country per the World Bank[2]<\/a>. Because of these factors, it is very challenging for any product or service to appeal to all social classes and to become completely widespread in Brazil as WhatsApp has. Since its introduction in 2009, the messaging app has grown to become the most popular app in the country, being used by roughly 85% of smartphone users[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp is one the most popular communications app in the world, currently being used by over 1 billion users in almost every country[4]<\/a>. It was created by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, both former employees of Yahoo! In 2009. In 2014, when WhatsApp had only US$20 million of revenues, it was bought by Facebook for US$19 billion, in a transaction that involved both cash and Facebook stock as payment[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But why has \u201cZapZap\u201d, a popular nickname to WhatsApp,grown so much in Brazil? With a minimum wage as low as R$880 (US$256[6]<\/a>), Brazilians are price sensitive and do not have income to spare with expensive mobile phone plans. In June 2016, Brazil had 251 million active lines, despite a population of roughly 200 million people, where Prepaid lines correspond to 70% of that number[7]<\/a>. This particularly high penetration of 1.25 lines per person is mainly due to carriers\u2019 choice of offering free calls and SMSs to same carrier phones, which led individuals and small business owners to have one line of each carrier to always place and receive calls for free (example below).<\/p>\n

\"Example<\/a>
Example of Small Business Advertising (in Portuguese)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And as mobile internet penetration in Brazil grew, reaching 84 million people (72% of all mobile phone users)[8]<\/a>, users saw the opportunity to further reduce their mobile expenses by concentrating their communications to a single line and communicating to other carriers for free using the app. The ease of use of the App, that doesn\u2019t need the user to create an account using the cellphone number as login, associated with group message functionalities and media sharing further fueled the fast adoption of WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

Now, wide adopted, WhatsApp is changing the way people, businesses, politicians and journalists interact with each other:<\/p>\n