Just because something is popular doesn't make it inherently valuable, because popularity is often fleeting. Over the past fifteen years nearly all messaging p

Just because something is popular doesn't make it inherently valuable, because popularity is often fleeting. Over the past fifteen years nearly all messaging platforms have had bell-curves of popularity. MSN, ICQ, AIM, BBM. What stops users of WhatsApp from moving onto another platform? Nothing. Personally I think the deal is bad for Facebook because they've spent $16+ billion acquiring users that are ephemeral. They are not buying technology. They are not buying talent. It is purely a user buy.