The first sign of Facebook beginning to integrate its 19 billion dollar acquisition, WhatsApp, with its own services has arrived in the form of a new button on the social network’s Android app. After staying away from this step for around a year, both the companies have decided to make the inevitable happen finally.
The newest version of Facebook for Android (v31.0.0.7.13 to be exact) has been found to be sporting a completely fresh ‘Send’ button. As has been spotted by Geektime and as you can see in the images it has released, the ‘Send’ button beside the ‘Like,’ ‘Comment’ and ‘Share’ keys bears the familiar ‘WhatsApp’ icon on it.
What this button does is still not completely clear, but we’re guessing it allows you to share a Facebook post with your WhatsApp contacts directly. However, that’s not the only way in which the two platforms are expected to be integrated.
Rumor has it that Facebooks’ Messenger which is extremely popular in the west and WhatsApp which is extremely popular in the east, will be able to work in a cross-platform manner of some sort. It’s being said that teams from both the companies are working together at the moment to make something like this possible.
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Back in February last year, WhatsApp was acquired by the social networking giant for the astonishing sum of $19 billion. This gave Facebook a huge advantage in terms of market coverage since its Messenger application was struggling to make inroads in Asian nations.
The WhatsApp ‘Send’ button appears to be available in a very limited manner on the Facebook for Android app; so chances are you won’t even get to see it right now. But we’ll make sure to infirm you when it’s officially out.