WhatsApp hits new record, processes 27bn messages in 24 hours

WhatsApp today announced that it had processed 27-billion messages in 24 hours, a new record for the mobile messaging service.

It’s also significantly up from its previous record of 19-billion messages processed on the last day of 2012.

According to Whatsapp, the number comprises 10-billion messages sent and 17-billion messages received by its users. If you’re wondering why there’s such a large discrepancy between the two figures, the company says that it’s largely down to group messages. It explains that “sending one message into group chat of 10 people is 1:10 inbound:outbound”.

new daily record: 10B+ msgs sent (inbound) and 17B+ msgs received (outbound) by our users = 27 Billion msgs handled in just 24 hours!

— WhatsApp Inc. (@WhatsApp) June 12, 2013

As The Next Web notes, the fact that the mobile messaging app, which runs on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Asha, Symbian and more, managed to break its record on an otherwise innocuous day is pretty remarkable. New Years Eve generally represents peak traffic for social networks, and the likes of Facebook and Twitter generally don’t outgrow their traffic from the day within six months.

Then again, WhatsApp’s user growth has been pretty phenomenal too. CEO Jan Koum recently revealed that the service now has over 200-million active users. That makes it bigger than Twitter.

It’s also streets ahead of BlackBerry’s BBM, which once dominated the space. The Canadian company’s service now has 60-million users who send and receive some 10-billion messages each day.

As we’ve aready noted however, WhatsApp does face stiff competition, especially in emerging market countries. Chinese social giant Tencent’s instant messaging effort WeChat for instance reportedly has over 300-million users, around 40-million of whom live outside China. The bulk of those outside China come from other emerging markets, a key growth area for WhatsApp, especially given the key role mobile plays in many emerging market countries.

WeChat also has dedicated offices across the world, including Indonesia (a joint venture with MNC), the US and Thailand (via Sanook) to grow its user-base. Last year, Tencent generated US$7-billion in revenue with an operating profit of US$2.46-billion.