Mobile messaging application WhatsApp is continuing its momentous growth by reaching 700 million active users per month, catapulting its status to that of one of the largest social networks worldwide, which may affect Google's expected foray into the mobile messaging sector.

The app, which enables users to send messages without incurring carrier fees, is now seeing 30 billion texts sent per day on its platform. While Facebook still reigns supreme as the top social network, WhatsApp?s milestone of 700 million monthly users places it ahead of social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram, which boast 284 million and 300 million users per month, respectively.

?I expect WhatsApp to reign supreme as one of the top mobile messaging apps in 2015,? said Mark Ghermezian, CEO and co-founder of Appboy, New York. ?By default, the iPhone and other iOS devices come with the iMessage app installed.

?There are also other applications in the App Store that provide iOS device owners with other features, like being able to message people who don't have a device made by Apple. Of all these, WhatsApp is by far the best known and leader in this growing category,? he said.

?As the world switches from minutes and messages to data bundles WhatsApp is being seen as the SMS of the future.?

Mr. Ghermezian is not affiliated with WhatsApp, but agreed to comment as an expert.

Facebook acquisition
The popular app was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for a sum of $19 billion, although Facebook?s CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims that his company has no imminent plans to begin monetizing WhatsApp. While some consumers pay a small subscription fee to use the instant messaging service, Facebook plans to wait until it hits one billion users to start making money off of it.

Facebook, which has more than 1.3 billion users signing in monthly, also informed WhatsApp to keep costs as low as possible while it climbs to its ultimate goal.

?Although Facebook is ubiquitous to North America and Europe, traction is much slower across Latin America, India, and Asia,? Mr. Ghermezian said. "Facebook needs to figure out what it takes in order to appeal to their growing audience in these regions.?

The milestone of hitting one billion active users may come swiftly, however, as WhatsApp was able to garner 300 million users in its first year alone. It made the jump from 600 million monthly active users to 700 million in just five months.

The app has enjoyed success worldwide, as international users can text freely without having to worry about racking up large messaging fees on their smartphones. WhatsApp offers a free first year for subscribers, with 99-cent annual fees after the time period is up.

This may affect Google's expected plans to roll out a mobile messaging app in early 2015 after failing in its bid to acquire WhatsApp (see story). Google is reportedly interested in introducing a chat app independent of its Gchat feature on Gmail.

However, experts believe that Google's biggest potential growth opportunity for a messaging app lies in North America, due to WhatsApp's worldwide success.

Incorporating more features
While WhatsApp is still strictly a messaging app, the company has reportedly been looking ahead to incorporate more communication capabilities. It announced plans to add free a voice-calling feature into the application, which may offer users a one-tap option turn a conversation into a video chat.

Screenshots from the iPhone app?s codes have also indicated that it may be considering a ?do not disturb? feature for its clients.

Another feature that WhatsApp offers consumers is encryption for texts sent between its Android users. With hacking scandals frequently taking the news, such as the one that befell Sony in 2014, users are likely appreciate the app?s capability to prevent messages from being monitored or tampered with.

?WhatsApp's message encryption is certainly a big draw for consumers worried about privacy,? Mr. Ghermezian said. ?TextSecure, WhatsApp's encryption system, ensures that the encryption remains intact throughout a message's journey from handset to handset.

?This is different from other encryption systems which scramble messages as they travel from a device to the servers that companies use to route them to their recipients.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York