Difference Between Facebook and WhatsApp

Facebook and WhatsApp are the leaders in communication in the contemporary society, though there lies a distinct difference between them based on their purpose and functions. Facebook is very broad compared to WhatsApp. The key difference between them is that Facebook is dedicated to social networking and sharing all sorts of media and updating friends of events and statuses while Whatsapp is an app specially designed for messaging and made to support smartphones.

Facebook has features like chatting, making voice and video calls, online games, creating groups, sharing media, events, Timelines, notification, like and comment features, news feeds are only a few. WhatsApp is also able to support few Facebook features like chat, call, sharing media and importantly messaging. Let us take an in depth look at the features and difference between Facebook and WhatsApp.

Facebook Features

Facebook is one of the most valued companies in the world, and it is also worth a fortune. This value is added with the use of advertisements and Facebook strives to add more features to its advertisements. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized many a time for adding features to Facebook that cause privacy problems.

‘Events’ is a great feature that has been integrated into Facebook. Events notify birthdays of friends, helps in social life updates, and lets you know what your friends are up to. This is a key feature in the social world as it notifies and brings together friends into events that they are interested in.

‘Timeline’ is also a key feature of Facebook. This feature provides a wider space than the earlier timeline which was cramped. The time line can be used for photos sharing, adding new friends and share a lot of information and important contents. Some people did not like the redesign, but there were people who liked it as well.

Social plugins let the Facebook user comment on famous topics and trends on famous newspapers and magazines. After a login has been made to the Facebook account, commenting can be done. Comments will be directly posted to the active page on Facebook.

The edge that Facebook has over other social media is when posting links, the content is added directly onto the post. This will save the user from clicking again to view the content and this saves time as well. This is true for articles, videos and pictures.

Turning off notification is easy with Facebook. We just need to adjust the tab settings in order to turn off this feature. If you prefer not to be informed about friends and what they are up to, it’s just a click away from what you would prefer. Invites to play games can be turned off easily which sometimes are annoying.

Relationship status is a feature of Facebook that lets you determine if the person added in single, in a relationship, engaged or is open to a relationship. To do this, the user has to add the person as a friend and after confirmation, he or she can browse their profile and find relevant information.

The like button is a unique feature of Facebook. In the past to approve something that was posted people had to type what they thought, but now just on clicking  on the like button will enable the user to agree to/like a post.

Newsfeed is an important feature that is available with Facebook. It is useful in adding status updates, videos, links and likes to followed pages on Facebook.  But when it was introduced there was a lot of protests. After some time, the idea was accepted, and now it is unimaginable to not see and use this feature.

The most popular feature of Facebook is adding and sharing photos. Facebook is capable of competing effectively with Instagram this feature.

WhatsApp Features

In social networking apps, WhatsApp takes the No.1 spot for iOS and No.5 on google play. There are over 200 million active users of this app. This cross-platform is also able to work on many other platforms like Windows Phone.

WhatsApp gives the opportunity for the user to chat with another user who has also downloaded WhatsApp. There are additional features to make the texting experience more fruitful.  This app was acquired by Facebook, and it is very popular around the globe. The messages that are received are shown in text bubbles. It will also come with a time stamp of when the message was sent and when the message was actually viewed by the user on the other side of the conversation. The conversation can be made more compelling by the addition of photos, videos and audio clips. The GPS location can also be shared through a map on the background of the app.

The WhatsApp messenger can send premade notes and also block contacts. Contact information of a friend can be sent easily. This can be done without leaving the app which is a cool feature. One of the features of WhatsApp is group messaging. Messages can be broadcasted to multiple friends by bringing up the contact list selecting the people to whom the messages should be sent. A group can also be created, and contacts can be added to that group and messages to that particular group can be sent. These group messages can be listed by location or the media that the group users have used to add. These features are better than the features found in standard apps and give WhatsApp an advantage over them.

The main advantage of using this app is that it saves lot of money. This also applies to texting internationally. The only requirement is the user on the other end also has to have this app.

The app can be downloaded free of charge. Initially, the app cost 0.99 USD, but in 2013, this was changed so that an early subscription would be charged at the end of each year which would be the same 0.99 USD. With all the features and the money that is saved by using this app, the above subscription would not be even a matter to argue.

What is the difference between Facebook and WhatsApp?

Difference in Features of Facebook and WhatsApp

Support

Facebook: Facbook is basically a social network.

WhatsApp: WhatsApp is basically a texting Service.

 App Creation

Facebook: With Facebook we are able to create apps and develop games.

WhatsApp: With WhatsApp we are not able to create apps or games.

Games Ads

Facebook: Facebook supports online games and ads.

WhatsApp: WhatsApp does not support games or ads.

Like Button & Comment

Facebook: Updates like posts, photos and videos are supported in Facebook with the like button. Comments are also available with Facebook.

WhatsApp: The like button is not available in WhatsApp.

Platform

Facebook: Facebook is a web page dedicated to social networking for building networks and sharing media and communication via chats and video calls.

WhatsApp: WhatsApp is an application made specifically for communication made for smartphones. We are able to chat with people who have their phone number on the user’s phone.

ID

Facebook: For Facebook, email ID or phone number is used as the ID.

WhatsApp: For WhatsApp, phone number is used as the ID.

Login

Facebook: Login is required to use Facebook.

WhatsApp: Login is not required to use WhatsApp.

Joining

Facebook: In Facebook, friends are added through Friend Requests.

WhatsApp: In WhatsApp, friends are added through Phone Contacts.

Fee

Facebook: With Facebook, browsing does not cost money.

WhatsApp: With WhatsApp, 1 Year subscription is required.

Active

Facebook: Facebook is viewable online.

WhatsApp: WhatsApp is viewable offline.

Both are great in their own arena. Facebook is the king of content sharing, and WhatsApp is the king of chatting. There is no competition with each other. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014. So there is no conflict with each other. Both have the potential to grow even further and increase the number of subscribers.

Image Courtesy:

“Whatsapp-iphone” by downloadsource.fr  (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr