Amelia Johns & Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández 
WhatsApp 
From a one-to-one Messaging App to a Global Communication Platform

In the 2010s, as chat apps became a primary mode of communication for many people across the world, Whats App quickly outpaced rival messaging apps and developed into a platform.

In this book, the authors provide a comprehensive account of Whats App’s global growth. Charting Whats App’s evolution from its founding in 2009 to the present day, they argue that Whats App has been transformed from a simple, ‘gimmickless’ app into a global communication platform. Understanding this development can shed light on the trajectory of Meta’s industrial development, and how digital economies and social media landscapes are evolving with the rise of ‘superapps’. This book explores how Whats App’s unique characteristics mediate new kinds of social and commercial transactions; how they pose new opportunities and challenges for platform regulation, civic participation and democracy; and how they give rise to new kinds of digital literacy as Whats App becomes integrated into everyday digital cultures across the globe.

Accessibly written, this book is an essential resource for students and scholars of digital media, cultural studies, and media and communications.

Inhoudsopgave

Acknowledgements



Introduction

Chapter One: Why Whats App Matters

Chapter Two: Platform Biography

Chapter Three: Everyday Uses of Whats App

Chapter Four: Whats App Publics: Activism, News, Disorder

Chapter Five: Whats App Business Model

Chapter Six: Whats App Futures



Notes

References

Index

Over de auteur

Amelia Johns is Senior Lecturer in Digital and Social Media at the University of Technology Sydney.

Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández is Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at Queensland University of Technology.

Emma Baulch is Associate Professor of Media and Communication in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia.