When I heard Facebook had bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, I thought… finally!  My friends back home will now know what I’ve been talking about!

What is WhatsApp?  It’s a cross-all-platforms mobile messaging app.  IPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows phones and Nokia users can all stay in touch for FREE anywhere in the world.  It uses the same internet data plan you use for email.  Create group chats, send unlimited images, video and audio media messages… anywhere in the world… for free.

I was first introduced to WhatsApp after moving here 2 years ago.  Everyone in Hong Kong uses this app!  Seriously, life in Hong Kong would not exist without this app!  And I completely understand why.  Need to plan a dinner out with friends?  No need to send separate texts to each person and manage communicating everyone’s comments.  Just start a group chat!   I will admit, it felt a little encroaching at first, as it allows your contacts to know if you’re online, if you have read their texts and even informs them when you were last online.  I really don’t want my team at work to know if I was out until 3am the night prior!  Some of that can be controlled with a few tweaks in the settings.  As for the things you can’t control, I have learned… I just can’t control that.  [Some people get very upset when you haven’t responded to their texts, as some people pay close attention to all those little green checks and double checks…]   I think someone  should write a book on texting etiquette.  Yes, I said book.

ANYWAY, now that Facebook has introduced the world to WhatsApp, I look forward to even more of my friends, mainly those in the US as the majority of users are international, to load this app.  Today!