In the 2010s as messaging apps replaced SMS to become the main communication technologies for
millions of people around the world WhatsApp rose above its rivals to become a global
communication platform. In this book Amelia Johns Ariadna Matamoros-Fernandez and Emma Baulch
provide a comprehensive account of WhatsApp's global growth. They begin with its emergence from
a messaging app to its purchase by Meta in 2014 which they argue transformed WhatsApp from a
simple 'gimmickless' app into a global communication platform. Understanding this development
can shed light on the current status of WhatsApp in relation to rivals the trajectory of
Meta's industrial development and how global digital economies and social media landscapes are
evolving with the rise of 'Superapps'. This book explores how WhatsApp'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 WhatsApp 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 as well as anyone
interested in the emergence and growth of WhatsApp.
