| Abstrakt: |
The long and rather far reaching strides in technology have changed the means and modes of communication world-wide. A mobile messaging application WhatsApp, which is available for Android phones, the iPhone, Blackberry allows the exchange of messages via SMS for free. This has resulted in users creating groups as the group members can be literally 'unlimited.' Even more amazing is that images and audio messages can be sent and forwarded at length. In Malaysia, this has caught on as an alternative to Face book especially since it is less 'public' and it can be done as a click of the fingers on your mobile device. Some popular WhatsApp groups include work-place /department groups, lecturer-student groups, book club circles, similar interest circles, old school/institution/coursemate/classmate groups. Some of the participants are as young as 11years and as old as 75. This trend is predicted to stay for a long time. This paper presents a conceptual study of this communication trend by looking at 200 respondents and what they have to say about the pros and cons of being a part of a WhatsApp group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
