There is no tech bubble.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

BBC News - Facebook to buy messaging app WhatsApp for $16bn

Or about 16 Instagrams, as it's otherwise known.

[Bunk]

The first BBC News alert that came through on my phone reported this as:

Facebook pays $16bn (£9.6bn) for what Mark Zuckerberg calls "incredibly valuable" massaging service.

A correction quickly followed, which was actually what made me go back and check the first alert.

[MicrosoftBob]

I stopped using it when they started charging for everything

I only used when text messages were expensive, as even INKSPE PAYG sims can have unlimited texts I don't see the appeal unless you're a teenager latching onto the last almost but never quite big thing

[BrilloPad]

A friend(probably an ex friend now) suggested that I whatsapp him.

Why should I do this instead of email? Or messenger? What is the advantage?

And no I can't pop round to see him for a beer as he is in HK. We get together whenever we are in the same city (last time was Christmas - a very pleasant 2 hour chat).

[edison]

I can sort of see the logic of the deal and it gives FB access to a younger/emerging market demographic but it's an awful lot of money to pay. Maybe they are worried that younger people will start to leave FB now that it has become rather mainstream and uncool?

Will FB really be able to monetise it sufficiently?

[The Spartan]

I read this last night on Business Insider via a LI link, I've promptly ditched Whatsapp now and use either BBM or Telegram, I'm one of the few people that I know of that doesn't have a FB account.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Really clever move by FB - I despise FB and don't use it at all.

Look at the "wisdom" behind this:

- people moving away from open social networking (FB) and into private social networking (Whatsapp)
- FB needs to have a monopoly on private information of individuals (who they now, how long they have known them, how often they communicate with them, friends of friends etc. - immensely powerful data)
- Now the intelligence services have a single point of reference for whenever they want to know about individuals, groups, communities etc. It's like a data warehousing project - bring it all into one warehouse.

Really scare stuff in my opinion, I used whatsapp to stay away from facebook and now facebook has come to me!

[NickFitz]

One of WhatsApp's founders tried to get a job at Facebook in 2009.

They knocked him back

Facebook rejected WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton for a job in 2009 | NDTV Gadgets

[suityou01]

A friend(probably an ex friend now) suggested that I whatsapp him.

Why should I do this instead of email? Or messenger? What is the advantage?

And no I can't pop round to see him for a beer as he is in HK. We get together whenever we are in the same city (last time was Christmas - a very pleasant 2 hour chat).