Social Media Today: WhatsApp, Heart Surgery, More Binge-Watching
By Melony Roy
Facebook just made its biggest acquisition to date.
Facebook has acquired the popular messaging app WhatsApp. The deal is Facebook's largest acquisition to date worth an estimated $19 billion in cash and stocks.
Founded in 2009 by former Yahoo engineers Jan Koum and Brian Acton, WhatsApp is mostly popular outside the US with 450 million active users.
WhatsApp is a text-messaging replacement app that lets you send messages to any of your contacts, even if you don't know their phone number. It works similar to BlackBerry Messenger and iMessage, letting users bypass their carrier's SMS/text messaging service to avoid any texting fees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hospital To Live Tweet Heart Surgery
In an effort to raise awareness about heart disease, a Canadian hospital will be live tweeting a heart surgery.
The patient is a 57-year-old male with coronary artery disease. The live tweets will include photos, short videos and additional heart health information.
You can follow the surgery starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow on Twitter using the hashtag #sbheart and following @sunnybrook.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new binge-watching event
Following in Netflix's binge-watching footsteps, NBC and Amazon Instant Video are teaming up for a "Hannibal" binge-watching event. All 13 episodes from season one will be available on Sunday, February 23rd.
@NBCHannibal will be anchoring the event using hashtag #13HourDevour. There will be live-tweeting from the cast and creators, and Twitter contests each hour.
Season two of Hannibal premieres February 28th.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow KYW social media editor Melony Roy @MelonyRoy.