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Everyone thinks of Facebook as a social media behemoth, but they're actually much more dominant in messaging and ready to start making money on it. The company announced last week ads on Facebook Messenger globally. Reports are also out that Facebook is hiring talent to "lead product development on our monetization efforts" for WhatsApp, a messaging app popular in Europe that Facebook bought in 2014 for $19 billion.
Why it matters: People use messaging apps more than social media apps and Facebook owns an overwhelming majority of that market. (Facebook-owned WhatsApp is the number one messaging app in 107 countries around the world, and Facebook's Messenger is number one in 58 countries, according to a SimilarWeb study.)
Data: eMarketer, Line, Tencent, pymnts.com; Chart: Lazaro Gamio / Axios
Facebook is reportedly building a standalone app that "incorporates ideas" from Houseparty, the video chatting app that's a huge hit amongst Gen Z, and they've been able to curb Snapchat's user growth by adopting Snapchat-like features on Facebook and Instagram.
U.S. competition: Last week it was reported that Amazon is also working on stand-alone messaging app called Anytime, that would rival Facebook's Messenger via a connected desktop and mobile experience.
Global competition: Chinese tech Giant Tencent has an effective monopoly over the Chinese messaging market via its popular app, WeChat and it looks like it's going to stay that way. Last week China blocked most WhatsApp services, like photo, video and voice messages, within the country.
Go Deeper: The Washington Post's Head of Commercial Product and Technology Jarrod Dicker writes for Medium: How We Should Be Thinking About Advertising In Bot and Messenger Apps