WhatsApp is Building A Yellow-Pages-Like Directory To Chat Directly With A Business

Mark Zuckerberg just tweeted yesterday announcing that WhatsApp shall be working on a business directory, very similar to the concept of Yellow Pages. The directory will categorise services such as ‘restaurant’, ‘electrician’ ‘florist’, or ‘grocery store’ – the client can then chose the specific service and chat directly through Whatsapp.

WhatsApp yesterday used São Paulo, Brazil as the first pilot test for this upgrade.

I'm excited we’re starting to pilot a local business directory within @WhatsApp. This will help you find and contact local businesses, like your neighborhood coffee shop, florist, clothing store and more.https://t.co/kNvUtn7FWR

— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) September 15, 2021

Why the directory?

Mostly known as a person-to-person chat platform, WhatsApp has noted that over 175 million people use the app daily to message a business account.

Through such a development, WhatsApp shall not only facilitate the communication between business and potential customers but shall also provide the app user with a fast directory system to search for any service needed.

This is how it will look like

How will it work exactly? The pilot app, for now, looks like this: once you open your personal WhatsApp account, you go to your contacts search window and a new sub-section ”Businesses Nearby’ shall be available. Once you press on it, a list of business categories will come up. Once you chose your category, a list of companies will come up and you can directly chat with any one you chose.

We are eagerly waiting for this function to be available to all WhatsApp users worldwide – including Malta. Share the love of efficiency,