Mark Zuckerberg announces updates to Business messaging on WhatsApp

Cloud API will allow messaging for businesses and developers to get up and running on WhatsApp in a matter of minutes, says Mark Zuckerberg

On May 19th on the stage at Meta's first Conversations conference, Mark Zuckerberg declared updates on WhatsApp for Business with the launch of Cloud API.

With the new update provided by Meta, businesses across the globe will get easy and free access to a secure cloud hosting service. Additionally, this will allow businesses and developers to get up and running on WhatsApp in a matter of minutes – and will allow them to build directly on top of WhatsApp to further customize their experience and increase the speed at which they can respond to their customers.

"Already more than 1 billion users connect with a business account across our messaging services every week. And today, I am excited to announce that we're opening WhatsApp to any business of any size around the world with WhatsApp Cloud API," Zuckerberg said.

For their partners, this new service will eliminate costly server expenses and give them instant access to new features. For users, this means they’ll be able to chat with more of their favourite businesses on WhatsApp. users will be in control of the businesses they chat with and businesses cannot message end users unless they have requested to be.

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Meta plans on adding new tools in order to support more small businesses who wish to continue to use the WhatsApp Business App. The digital giant is working on advanced features for businesses to help them run their operations beyond just a few people and further amplify their brand online – like the ability to manage chats across up to 10 devices so they can better handle an influx of chats.

Meta also plans on providing new customizable WhatsApp click-to-chat links to help businesses attract customers across their online presence. They plan to offer these as additional, optional features for a fee in the WhatsApp Business app as part of a new premium service.