The part that confuses me is Facebook has a messaging component... I can use it to message international people without incurring international SMS rates (which

The part that confuses me is Facebook has a messaging component... I can use it to message international people without incurring international SMS rates (which is a big reason a lot of people I know use WhatsApp). WhatsApp charges annually for this (already free elsewhere) service. So I'm pretty confused why people would use WhatsApp rather than one of the many (Kik, Hangouts, Facebook, etc.) alternatives available? If people could migrate their WhatsApp account they pay for into a Facebook account which is free it's a win/win for FB. They get the users ditching the paid service in exchange for adding nice numbers to their quarterly reports for signups, and they get a nice revenue stream for the hold outs that avoid FB because it's FB but are willing to part with $1/year for that functionality. Smart move on their part, wonder if their name will taint the product for the existing userbase and send them to the aforementioned alternatives. edit: said $10/year, I accidentally a 0.