BBC Academy - Journalism - Instant messaging: BBC News on chat apps

Top of the list has to be the BBC Ebola WhatsApp service. We’ve used everything we’ve learnt about how these apps work, and how users consume content within these platforms, to provide a core public service operation within a chat app. We’ve realised that by using chat apps we’re able to deliver potentially life-saving information to the people who need it most: those living in West Africa. The BBC‘s Ebola WhatsApps service is conveying public health information in an immediate and effective way. It’s the first time this technology has been used in a public health crisis, and the fact that people trust the BBC brand makes it a very powerful tool. What’s also encouraging about this project is that within a week of it starting we were working very closely with organisations like Unicef, the World Health Organization and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. They were all very keen to share the information they were getting so that we could push it out through our WhatsApp service straight away.