WhatsApp and Religious Piety: The Social and Psychological Dynamics of Religious Status Sharing on WhatsApp

Abstract

Social media Apps play a vital role in connecting the people without any constraint of time or space. Some applications provide the ephemeral media experience which disappears after certain time, mostly after 24 hours. Users practice them for sharing information, personal feelings and likes/dislikes. WhatsApp status feature is one of them and it provides the users with an opportunity to share what is in their heads with others through status update. People love to update status of their interest. In Pakistan, people often update Islamic/religious content on their status. This study investigate the purpose, functions and effects of these religious statuses by applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory as Theoretical framework. Quantitative data analysis of this survey based study showed that religious WhatsApp status gratify several psychological, cognitive, emotional and social needs of users. Moreover, it is also found that instead of their gender or age, the formal education and intellectual engagement shapes the usage patterns of users. Results further revealed that higher level of obtained gratifications results into recommendation of the content to others.