A Situated-Infrastructuring of WhatsApp for Business in India
arXiv:2404.16124 · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642173
Abstract
WhatsApp has become a pivotal communication tool in India, transcending cultural boundaries and deeply integrating into the nation's digital landscape. Meta's introduction of WhatsApp for Business aligns seamlessly with the platform's popularity, offering businesses a crucial tool. However, the monetization plans pose challenges, particularly for smaller businesses, in balancing revenue goals with accessibility. This study, employing discourse analysis, examines Meta's infrastructuring of WhatsApp in India, emphasizing the dynamic interplay of technological, social, and cultural dimensions. Consequently, it highlights potential power differences caused by the deployment of WhatsApp for Business followed by its gradual but significant modifications, encouraging scholars to investigate the implications and ethics of rapid technological changes, particularly for marginalized users.
arXiv comment7 pages, Accepted to ACM CHI 2024 as an Extended Abstract. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'24)
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