"Business on WhatsApp is tough now- but am I really a businesswoman?"Exploring Challenges with Adapting to Changes in WhatsApp Business

2025-02-15

AI Summary

This study examines the “coerced professionalization” experienced by micro- and small-scale merchants in India amid WhatsApp’s transformation into a commercial platform—characterized by feature bloat, subscription-based pricing, and interface standardization, which collectively exacerbate marginalization and reflect digital colonialism and structural power asymmetries. Drawing on in-depth interviews and contextual observations with 14 grassroots merchants, and applying grounded theory analysis, the paper introduces and theorizes “coerced professionalization” as a novel construct, extending HCI scholarship on technological appropriateness and community agency. Findings reveal that merchants engage in informal, creative acts of technical appropriation to circumvent platform constraints. Based on these practices, the study derives inclusive design principles advocating community-driven appropriation over top-down platform standardization—thereby offering empirical grounding and actionable pathways toward equitable digital infrastructure. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Search and Optimization: Other Foundations of Search & Optimization

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy
• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

This study examines how WhatsApp has evolved from a personal communication tool to a professional platform, focusing on its use by small business owners in India. Initially embraced in smaller, rural communities for its ease of use and familiarity, WhatsApp played a crucial role in local economies. However, as Meta introduced WhatsApp Business with new, formalized features, users encountered challenges in adapting to the more complex and costly platform. Interviews with 14 small business owners revealed that while they adapted creatively, they felt marginalized by the advanced tools. This research contributes to HCI literature by exploring the transition from personal to professional use and introduces the concept of Coercive Professionalization. It highlights how standardization by large tech companies affects marginalized users, exacerbating power imbalances and reinforcing digital colonialism, concluding with design implications for supporting community-based appropriations.

Problem

• Challenges in adapting to WhatsApp Business
• Impact of tech standardization on small businesses
• Marginalization due to advanced digital tools

Innovation

• Transition from personal to professional
• Impact of standardization on users
• Design for community-based appropriations