WhatsApp to Share Your Phone Number with Facebook read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/696-whatsapp-to-share-your-phone-number-with-facebook

But the giant social network has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago, in a deal ultimately worth $21.8 billion.

 At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise by WhatsApp's co-founders to respect users' privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.

Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook its parent company.

WhatsApp phone numbers are valuable to Facebook. While the social network already has many phone numbers, it doesn't require users to provide them, and doesn't always have the most current number for everyone on Facebook.

But anyone on WhatsApp must provide a current phone number because that's how WhatsApp knows where to deliver messages.

The company says Facebook will employ the phone number internally to better identify WhatsApp users on Facebook, so it can recommend friends or show targeted advertising. That means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook although not on the messaging service itself.

One change follows through on previous hints by WhatsApp executives, who have said they're exploring ways for businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp.

That could include using WhatsApp to provide receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery.

WhatsApp says current users have up to 30 days to accept the new policy terms or stop using the service. Once they accept, they have 30 more days to opt out of sharing with Facebo