Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, the company's revenue structure has become a bit more complex, but the core remains 'advertising.'

However, it is no longer solely dependent on Facebook; Instagram and WhatsApp are each generating significant revenue. In particular, Instagram is often referred to as Meta's golden egg, accounting for nearly half of the company's revenue. Looking at Instagram, it is already a fully developed advertising platform. The feed ads we naturally see while scrolling, the short video ads that briefly appear between stories, and the sponsored videos within the trending Reels are all sources of revenue for Meta.

To look at Meta's overall performance, as of 2024, Meta's annual revenue is estimated to be around $164.5 billion. This is indeed an enormous scale. And it is said that almost 98% of this revenue comes from advertising.

In fact, Instagram alone generates annual advertising revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars, making the term 'photo-sharing app' a thing of the past. Instagram is essentially the world's largest mobile advertising stage. Interestingly, Meta does not simply run these ads on one platform. For example, a product seen on Facebook can be seen again on Instagram, or a brand seen on Instagram may later appear at the top of a WhatsApp chat window.

Meta organically combines these three apps to maximize advertising efficiency. Since user data is interconnected, individuals who have shown interest are repeatedly exposed across multiple apps. On the other hand, WhatsApp has so far focused on 'service over revenue.' Despite having over 2 billion users worldwide, it has not included ads for a long time. However, the atmosphere has been changing recently.

With the introduction of WhatsApp Business, companies are now charged for sending a certain number of messages when communicating with customers. This is akin to a "business text messaging plan." Additionally, there are moves to introduce ads in the 'Status' or 'Updates' tabs in the future. In simple terms, this is an ad format that naturally catches users' eyes, similar to Instagram Stories. Once implemented, WhatsApp will enter a full-fledged monetization phase.

Currently, the money WhatsApp is making cannot yet compare to Instagram, but its potential is much greater. Given the vast number of users, especially in India, Brazil, and Latin America, where WhatsApp is essentially 'the internet,' the expansion of additional services like business transactions, customer consultations, and money transfer features could exponentially increase revenue.

From Meta's perspective, Instagram is sustaining the present, while WhatsApp is the card that will secure the future. In fact, Facebook is not as widely used by younger generations as it once was. Instead, Instagram remains strong among Gen Z and millennials, while WhatsApp is a fundamental tool for global communication, so Meta is trying to complete a new revenue structure centered around these two apps.

Meta is no longer just a social media company; it is evolving into a global marketing hub that controls 'people's conversations and interests.' While in the Facebook era, seeing friends' updates was everything, in Meta's world, every moment we see, say, and click is becoming part of the revenue.