It’s official, ads are coming to WhatsApp. However, depending on how you use the popular messaging app, you may never see one. Hot on the heels of the welcome addition of a proper WhatsApp iPad App, WhatsApp has confirmed it’s introducing ads to the platform alongside a couple of other features for businesses and channels

Ads in WhatsApp will be shown only in the app's Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day.

I talked with a professor of advertising to make sense of what this means for all of us who use those social media platforms.