We already wrote about this in early 2016. After the initial euphoria surrounding social media and apps, a sense of calm and reflection has settled in. The days of experimentation and discovery have given way to practicality and functionality. Data privacy concerns have also moved more into focus, so not everyone is commenting on and sharing every aspect of their lives as they once did. Commercialism has also made a massive inroads into social media privacy, so the initial "childlike" carelessness has been replaced by mistrust and caution. We have matured.
WhatsApp is "still" ad-free. Compared to other social media channels, it's clear that users are noticeably less active here. There seems to be a correlation: the more overt commercialism there is, the more users feel their privacy is being violated and withdraw from the platform.
This is all set to end next year. WhatsApp will undergo radical changes: The Facebook subsidiary wants to finally get out of the red and tap into the revenue streams. Advertising will become standard, and businesses will have to pay for business accounts.
study by Faktenkontor, 87 percent of social media users in Germany are active on Facebook, six percentage points fewer than the previous year. Furthermore, only 34 percent actively use the network (writing posts and comments, uploading pictures or videos). However, the passive use of social media platforms is not unique to Facebook. Similar findings can be observed for almost all websites and apps examined in the study. For example, while YouTube is used by 88 percent of users overall, only 14 percent maintain their own accounts or comment on videos.
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