It's also public knowledge that they've been parsing messages for links to then 'like' the appropriate pages inside Facebook.

Rather than debate about how much profit there could be in it, which is entirely down to what the user talks about, I think it is important to realise the potential here even if it not fully realised at this point it time.

Also remember that they are keeping chat history indefinitely in HBase clusters (because they are 'sentimental') so as your habits and interests change over time this will become invaluable data to marketers who want to understand consumer behaviour.

I think it's great that WhatsApp are implementing end-to-end encryption but their now immediate connection with Facebook doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps I'm an idiot, but it doesn't take long to realise that there are perhaps competing interests at play here.