The Revolution Will Be Forwarded: Interrogating India's WhatsApp Imaginary

IF 0.9 Q3 COMMUNICATION

Journal of Communication Inquiry Pub Date : 2022-04-24 DOI:10.1177/01968599221095177

Jessica Maddox, Shaheen Kanthawala

引用次数: 2

Abstract

WhatsApp is one the world's most popular social media apps, as well as one of the most popular chat-based, closed platforms. Utilizing the insights from 19 in-depth interviews, we approach WhatsApp from a cultural perspective of ritual communication, seeking to understand how people make sense of WhatsApp use in their daily lives. We found WhatsApp is largely used to maintain community and fellowship with friends, coworkers, family, and even acquaintances or strangers. However, WhatsApp use is not wholly cohesive or harmonious. Social life on WhatsApp can become highly fragmented given numerous groups, and more groups mean more messages that individuals struggle to keep up with. We define the central nature of WhatsApp in Indian social life as India's WhatsApp imaginary, in which ritualized mobile media practices intertwine with cultural contexts to transcend borders, connect people via mobile affordances, and sustain daily social and business lives.

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革命将向前推进：质疑印度WhatsApp的想象

WhatsApp是世界上最流行的社交媒体应用程序之一，也是最流行的基于聊天的封闭平台之一。利用19次深度采访的见解，我们从仪式交流的文化角度来看待WhatsApp，试图了解人们如何理解WhatsApp在日常生活中的使用。我们发现WhatsApp主要用于与朋友、同事、家人，甚至熟人或陌生人保持社区和友谊。然而，WhatsApp的使用并不是完全一致或和谐的。由于群组众多，WhatsApp上的社交生活可能会变得高度分散，而更多的群组意味着个人难以跟上更多的信息。我们将WhatsApp在印度社交生活中的核心性质定义为印度的WhatsApp想象，在印度，仪式化的移动媒体实践与文化背景交织在一起，以超越国界，通过移动可供性将人们联系起来，并维持日常社交和商业生活。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Communication Inquiry COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

2.90

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Communication Inquiry emphasizes interdisciplinary inquiry into communication and mass communication phenomena within cultural and historical perspectives. Such perspectives imply that an understanding of these phenomena cannot arise soley out of a narrowly focused analysis. Rather, the approaches emphasize philosophical, evaluative, empirical, legal, historical, and/or critical inquiry into relationships between mass communication and society across time and culture. The Journal of Communication Inquiry is a forum for such investigations.