Product details
- ISBN 9781032574172
- Weight: 453g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 13 Feb 2024
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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.
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).
