The WhatsApp India Story

Inside the Digital Maya Sphere
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-57417-2
Verlag: Routledge India

Buch, Englisch, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 619 g

WhatsApp is used by over half a billion people in India today in all fields – in business, corporate and informal sectors, in government, for education and among friends, families and acquaintances. This book critically explores the social messaging app’s rapid expansion in India and its growing influence and looks at whether, as a form of horizontal communication, it poses a challenge to more traditional structures of communication.

The book examines WhatsApp’s spread in the personal and professional lives of Indians and the myriad ways in which people in India are using the app in social and business interactions, including among people living with disabilities. Using case studies, interviews, surveys and in-depth research, it analyses key aspects of WhatsApp’s massive popularity and its impact on how people communicate. It also explores its impact on the psycho-social dynamics in India, including the dissemination of fake news and politically motivated content, and the consequent need for media regulation in the country.

One of the first books to analyse the pervasiveness of WhatsApp and social media apps in different areas of Indian society, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of media studies, communication studies, digital media, cultural studies, cyberculture studies, sociology and social policy and media law.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Narayan, Sunetra Sen

Narayanan, Shalini

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Professionelle Anwendung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures x

Foreword xii

Acknowledgements xv

1 WhatsAppening India: The Message is the Medium 1

2 Social Messaging: The Theoretical Framework 24

3 Hello WhatsApp: Connecting Friends and Family 60

4 Politics and Elections: The Virtual Battleground 89

5 The Menace of Fake News: Beware the Forward 114

6 Regulatory Challenges: Crime and Punishment 146

7 WhatsApp and Disability: An Enabler? 178

8 Professionals and Messaging: Fatigue or Administrative Ease? 202

9 Doing Business, the Social Messaging Way 225

10 Conclusions: The WhatsApp Way of Life 250

Appendix 273

Index 278

Über Autor(innen)

Sunetra Sen Narayan is currently Professor at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi. She was awarded a Doctorate degree in Mass Communication from Pennsylvania State University, USA. Her areas of expertise include development, international communications and health and digital media. She is the author of Globalization and Television: A Study of the Indian Experience 1990–2010 (2014) and the co-editor of India Connected: Mapping the Impact of New Media (2016).

Shalini Narayanan straddles the worlds of academia and public service with her background as a communications scholar and Indian Information Service (IIS) officer. Since she took voluntary retirement from service in 2013, she has been engaged in academic and literary writing, training, teaching, and learning. She has two books, several academic papers and a collection of over 500 micro-stories to her name. She is the co-editor of India Connected: Mapping the Impact of New Media (2016).