Mobile Instant Messaging Applications Research Articles

Affordances-driven ethics for research on mobile instant messaging: Notes from the Global South

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications have received increasing attention from social science researchers lately. Despite the high frequency of its use for multiple purposes, research in such environments entails specific ethical challenges, more familiar for researchers from the Global South, where MIMs have become an important part of the media landscape for a decade or so. This article discusses the ethical dilemmas that emerged in two distinct cases where authors were part of the research teams, concluding that current frameworks fall short in the sociotechnical dimension. To address this, we complement the casuistic-heuristic model with an affordances-driven approach, which contemplates the agency of the group members within the interactive processes that take place in digital environments and the possibilities and constraints that platforms' features offer during the research process.

Guidelines for Sustainable Use of Mobile Instant Messaging Apps in Higher Education: A South African Case Study

Objective: The purpose of the study was to propose guidelines to facilitate the sustainable and successful use of mobile instant messaging apps for learning and teaching based on a review of the literature and perceptions of educators. Fraser’s model of redistribution, recognition, and representation served as the theoretical framework. This study provides a mechanism for the development of a socially just and inclusive online classroom environment. Method: We conducted two focus groups (<em>n</em> = 4 and <em>n</em> = 3) in November 2021 at a university of technology in South Africa to explore the perceptions of educators on using mobile instant messaging (MIM) apps for learning and teaching, to identify challenges, and to suggest solutions. The data were thematically coded and analyzed to detect themes using Saldana’s six-step process. Results: Sustainable and successful use of MIM apps for learning and teaching requires guidelines in three areas: practical management, privacy and security, and sustainable use. Key considerations include uniformity of use, student consultation, data control, operating hours, appointment of a chat moderator, language communication, access control, monitoring communication, regular feedback, and formalizing MIM app use through institutional policies. Conclusion: The proposed guidelines promote the sustainable and successful use of MIM applications in learning and teaching environments. The guidelines offer practical solutions to ensure that the use of MIM apps is ethical, inclusive, and effective in supporting student learning.

Factors influencing m-loyalty and customer reuse intention toward mobile instant messaging services

PurposeThis study aims to empirically examine the factors that affect mobile loyalty (m-loyalty) and its influence on customer reuse intention towards mobile instant messaging services. This study identified measurement items to assess the business users and individual users reuse intention towards mobile instant messaging services and test the relationship in the conceptual model. This study bridges a literature gap focusing on m-loyalty and its impact on customer reuse intention, which has not received attention previously.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the influence of the factors, this study identified and extracted the items from past literature to develop the survey instrument. This study surveyed 600 respondents including business users and individual users from the Delhi-National Capital Region of India and applied the structural equation modelling to test the conceptual model.FindingsThe results revealed that satisfaction and m-loyalty have a direct effect on the business users and individual users’ reuse intention of mobile instant messaging services. This study found that satisfaction, usability, perceived value, commitment, trust and m-loyalty influence on business users reuse intention. This study indicate that enjoyment has an insignificant relationship on m-loyalty for business users followed by usability and enjoyment has an insignificant relationship on m-loyalty for individual users. Further, female gender does not moderate the relationship between satisfaction and business users reuse intention. The cognitive absorption and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) theories supported evaluating the association between the factors in the context of business and individual users reuse intention of mobile instant messaging service.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical findings imply that all the factors except enjoyment have directly influenced the business users reuse intention of mobile instant messaging. The significant influence of usability factor on the business users reuse intention towards mobile instant messaging is the major variation between the validated models of business and individual samples. The results of influencing factors of m-loyalty and its impact on customer reuse intention are associated with cognitive absorption and the UTAUT theories.Practical implicationsFocus on these factors can be beneficial for the business users, managers, mobile instant messaging service providers and application developers to increase customer loyalty and reuse intention for the mobile instant messaging services. This research will facilitate mobile instant messaging service providers to keep their services market relevant and focus on user satisfaction in building applications for loyalty.Originality/valueThis research identified measurement items from earlier literature to identify, analyze and verify the relevance of these factors in m-loyalty and customer reuse intention of mobile instant messaging services and fill the gap in customer reuse intention of mobile instant messaging services literature.

Cognitive, Social, and Teaching Presences among Postgraduate Students on the Mobile Instant Messaging Platform

This study examines the portrayal of cognitive, social, and teaching presence among postgraduate students using mobile instant messaging in a fully online learning environment. Understanding the portrayal of these presences can help researchers to gain insights into the specific dynamics of these presences and develop strategies to optimize the learning experience among postgraduate students. However, a lack of evidence on how cognitive, social, and teaching presence is portrayed in this platform makes it difficult to identify possible gaps where postgraduates may need more assistance. This study conducted a qualitative content analysis of 2074 messages from four groups on WhatsApp’s mobile instant messaging application. From the research, 68% of the messages demonstrated social presence, 25% teaching presence, and 7% indicated cognitive presence. The cognitive presence on WhatsApp was the least demonstrated, as students preferred rich mediums like video conferencing to engage in discussions that require higher-order thinking skills. Future research can consider analyzing how students show presences using multiple mediums and explore how cognitive, social, and teaching presences are dynamically interplayed in different mediums using a qualitative approach.

WhatsApp-propriate? Exploring "WhatsApp" as a Tool for Research Among Ghanaian Immigrants in the United States.

African immigrants remain underrepresented in research due to challenges in recruitment. Mobile instant messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, present novel, and cost-effective opportunities for conducting health research across geographic and temporal distances, potentially mitigating the challenges of maintaining contact and engagement in research with migrant populations. Moreover, WhatsApp has been found to be commonly used by African immigrant communities. However, little is known about the acceptability and use of WhatsApp as a tool for health research among African immigrants in the US. In this study, we examine the acceptability and feasibility of WhatsApp as a tool for research among Ghanaian immigrants- a subset of the African immigrant population group. We used WhatsApp to recruit 40 participants for a qualitative interview about their use of the mobile messaging application. Three distinct themes related to the acceptability and feasibility of WhatsApp emerged from the interviews: (1) preference for using WhatsApp as a medium of communication; (2) positive perception of WhatsApp; and (3) preference for using WhatsApp for research. The findings indicate that for African immigrants in the US, WhatsApp is a preferred method for recruiting and collecting data. It remains a promising strategy to utilize in future research involving this population.

Emoticons and Punctuation Marks in English Communication through a Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) Application

Emoticons and Punctuation Marks in English Communication through a Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) Application

WhatsApp Use in a Higher Education Learning Environment: Perspective of Students of a Malaysian Private University on Academic Performance and Team Effectiveness

The mobile instant messaging application, WhatsApp Messenger (WhatsApp), has become a popular form of communication among adolescents, especially university students, and it has increasingly been used as a tool in collaborative learning in higher education. The use of WhatsApp for education to facilitate ubiquitous learning has been practised worldwide due to its popularity and potential to support teaching and learning processes derived from the diffusion of mobile technology and empowered by the use of smartphones. This study investigates the impact of the use of WhatsApp in a higher education learning environment on students’ perceived academic performance and team effectiveness. A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was adopted with data collected through a self-administered online survey and two focus group interviews with students of a private university in the Sunway City, Malaysia. The findings of this study present insights into the popularity of WhatsApp among university students and that students use it for social and educational purposes due to its perceived ease of use and usefulness in enhancing academic performance and team effectiveness. Although WhatsApp is recognised as a rich and powerful collaborative tool for students with a positive impact on academic performance, it has a limited impact on the cohesion and openness of team effectiveness.

Measuring the Effects of Usability Recommendations for Mobile Instant Messaging Apps on User Performance and User Behaviour

Researchers worldwide have extensively investigated the influence of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) on Mobile Instant Messaging applications, exploring aspects such as usability issues and user behaviour. However, traditional HCI challenges remain in these applications today (ie, usability issues and lack of specific usability guidelines). In this paper, we present a contextual and methodological contribution measuring user performance (with a controlled experiment on a set of structured tasks following a within-subjects design) and user behaviour (with a user satisfaction questionnaire) on Mobile Instant Messaging applications with end users. Most of the current studies on Mobile Instant Messaging are focused on only one application at a time and in a specific region of the world. This experiment originally measures over four apps: Three in-market apps (apps with good usability results, selected from previous studies) and one app developed following usability recommendations. In addition, this research originally adds to the current literature results with participants from two different countries. The results show, as practical implications, that the application of specific usability recommendations for Mobile Instant Messaging applications (eg, adding a new contact only with the ID, or providing a visual distinction between individual and group chats, among others) significantly facilitates user performance with these applications. However, further dissemination is needed among researchers and developers. The findings on user behaviour show that the number of close contacts using a particular Mobile Instant Messaging application strongly determines the user’s intention to continue using an application. And not the features offered or the acceptance of the user interface, as most current studies suggest.

The Use of Mobile Instant Messaging in English Language Teaching: The Case of South Korea

While learning management systems and video conferencing platforms have become a pivotal means for implementing emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the integration of mobile technologies into online teaching has been largely recommended in order to create an interactive educational environment. Focusing on the case of an English Language Program in South Korea, this study investigates the actual use of mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications as a learning aid in online language classrooms and how this was implemented in creating interactive language learning environments during the current outbreak. Based on a questionnaire survey collected from 979 students, it then compares students’ level of perceived satisfaction with their language learning and communication in online language classrooms between the group of students that used MIM during instruction and the group that did not. The discussion presented in this paper provides language educators, school administrators and policymakers at all levels with practical suggestions and ideas to consider, given that our daily communication has become highly dependent on and is increasingly mediated by mobile digital communication technologies and new media.

Share and Multiply: Modeling Communication and Generated Traffic in Private WhatsApp Groups

Group-based communication is a highly popular communication paradigm, which is especially prominent in mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications, such as WhatsApp. Chat groups in MIM applications facilitate the sharing of various types of messages (e.g., text, voice, image, video) among a large number of participants. As each message has to be transmitted to every other member of the group, which multiplies the traffic, this has a massive impact on the underlying communication networks. However, most chat groups are private and network operators cannot obtain deep insights into MIM communication via network measurements due to end-to-end encryption. Thus, the generation of traffic is not well understood, given that it depends on sizes of communication groups, speed of communication, and exchanged message types. In this work, we provide a huge data set of 5,956 private WhatsApp chat histories, which contains over 76 million messages from more than 117,000 users. We describe and model the properties of chat groups and users, and the communication within these chat groups, which gives unprecedented insights into private MIM communication. In addition, we conduct exemplary measurements for the most popular message types, which empower the provided models to estimate the traffic over time in a chat group.

Does Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) affect power redistribution? Evidence from a Malaysian school management organization

Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, are widely used by organizations in Malaysia for communication, information sharing, and decision-making due to their attractive and user-friendly features. However, most of the previous research on MIM has focused on usage, overlooking its impact on power distribution within organizations. As a result, the profound effect of MIM on power relations can take organizations by surprise. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the impact of MIM on power relations in an organization. A case study was conducted on the use of MIM for work management in a primary school. Interviews were conducted with teachers, the District Education Officer, and members of the Parents-Teachers Association. The study found that MIM usage for work management expands the user's personal power and authority in the organization. Members reported feeling more control over work-related issues, and MIM usage blurred traditional organizational boundaries. The analysis yielded three key elements: building connections, blurring boundaries, and expanding authority/personal control. The study's findings are presented as an extended model.

Rethinking Activity Awareness: The Design, Evaluation and Implication of Integrating Activity Awareness into Mobile Messaging

Nowadays, different types of context information are integrated into mobile messaging to increase expressiveness and awareness, including mobile device setting, location, activity, and heart rate. Due to low recognition accuracy, sometimes users cannot accurately infer others’ status through activity awareness. Recently, activity recognition technology has advanced. However, the user behaviors of activity awareness with improved technology have not been studied. In this study, we design ActAware, a mobile instant messaging application that integrates activity awareness based on improved activity recognition technology, i.e., improved recognition accuracy and the addition of activity transition notification. We conduct a field study to explore user behaviors and found that activity awareness allows users to speculate on the reasons for chat interruption, plan communication, speculate on whether the chat partner is departing/arriving, and deepen the understanding of living patterns. Compared with disclosing other types of context information, users have fewer privacy concerns about disclosing activity information in ActAware. Based on these findings, we provide design recommendations for mobile messaging to better support activity awareness.

Cultural influence on using mobile instant messaging applications to develop and maintain friendships

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications have gained popularity in recent years. Their useful and effective features help users communicate more effectively. Communication technology adoption requires an understanding of cultural factors. In this study, there are four cultural dimensions evaluated: collectivism (COL), masculinity (MAS), power distance (PWR), and uncertainty avoidance (UA). These four cultural dimensions of a country were studied in order to understand their relation to two constructs of friendship development (FD) and relationship management (RM). Furthermore, this study examines the relationship between those two constructs and people’s intentions to continue utilizing MIM. Three hundred and twenty-one respondents from Taiwan participated in an online survey. The PLS-SEM method was used to perform the data analysis. In the study, a significant correlation was found between collectivism and friendship development and relationship management. However, masculinity does not have a significant impact on friendship development. A high power distance does not negatively affect relationship management. A high power distance has a significant positive effect on relationship management. An increase in uncertainty avoidance does not negatively affect friendship development. However, an increase in uncertainty avoidance has a significant positive effect on friendship development. MIM apps for friendship development and relationship maintenance are impacted by four cultural dimensions. These findings provide theoretical and practical implications for insight into these factors.

Identifying tomato leaf diseases under real field conditions using convolutional neural networks and a chatbot

Tomatoes are an essential crop in Taiwan and in many other countries worldwide. Disease is a major threat to tomato production, and disease identification is the first step to limiting production loss. Conventionally, plant disease identification has relied on naked-eye examination in fields by experienced farmers and culture and microscopic examination in laboratories by plant pathologists. However, as of 2021, the tomato industry in Taiwan is facing a labor shortage, and experienced farmers or pathologists are not always available. This study developed a method for the automatic identification of eight tomato disease and pest categories using images of tomato leaves, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and a chatbot controller. Approximately 9,000 images of tomato leaves affected by 11 diseases and pests were collected in fields or greenhouses. The images and the respective lesions on the leaves were sorted into eight categories according to the appearance of lesions. Three CNNs—an anomaly detection model (ADM), a disease identification model (DIM), and a leaf mold/powdery mildew II distinguishing model (LPDM)—were respectively trained to detect anomalies (i.e., non-leaf images), to sort the images into the eight categories, and to distinguish between leaf mold and powdery mildew II. The three CNNs were hosted on a cloud service. The chatbot controller was programmed to manage the communication between the CNNs and the users through LINE, a mobile instant messaging application. The trained ADM achieved an accuracy of 97.40% in the detection of anomalous images. The trained DIM achieved an accuracy of 93.63% in the categorization of images into the eight tomato disease and pest categories. The trained LPDM achieved an accuracy of 98.70% in the distinction between leaf mold and powdery mildew II. The proposed system can assist farmers in timely identification of tomato leaf diseases and provide simple suggestions for the treatment and prevention of diseases in the identified category.

Integration of IMEI, RSA, and Signature to Secure Communication in Mobile Applications

The mobile instant messaging applications have become a famous wireless service in the world allowing a user to communicate with anyone in anywhere. Consequently, the manipulation of the user data creates a pressing need for securing the information and the associated technologies. The protection of these communications has become a paramount objective. The concept of cryptography has become a basic concept in communication and the exchange of messages within companies. This paper presents a hybrid security system allowing messages to be exchanged within a company in a secure manner. Our goal is to provide end-to-end encryption through the combination of asymmetric cryptography, signature, and integration of IMEI parameter. The confidentiality of the messages is ensured by the RSA algorithm, while the integrity of these messages and the sender authentication are ensured by the digital signature, that is carried out with the SHA-2 hash function.

Influencing factors of mobile instant messaging applications between single- and multi- platform use cases

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the usage intention for different instant messaging application platforms. This study targeted the widespread instant messaging software LINE, for which a survey of 485 valid respondents was conducted in Taiwan. Statistical and model structure analyses were applied to validate the hypotheses proposed in this study. We examined the differences between single- and multi-platform use cases in terms of the relationship between consumer value and behavioral intention. The results show that perceived interactivity, perceived playfulness, and perceived usefulness have significant effects on the continued usage and recommendation intentions of users in a single-platform use case. However, perceived interactivity and perceived playfulness did not have significant effects in multi-platform use cases. The findings of this study provide a new perspective for investigating the intention to continue using a multiplatform application. The results will benefit subsequent studies in this area and provide guidance for the development of instant messaging and other social media applications.

Pandemic in the digital age: analyzing WhatsApp communication behavior before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown

The strict restrictions introduced by the COVID-19 lockdowns, which started from March 2020, changed people’s daily lives and habits on many different levels. In this work, we investigate the impact of the lockdown on the communication behavior in the mobile instant messaging application WhatsApp. Our evaluations are based on a large dataset of 2577 private chat histories with 25,378,093 messages from 51,973 users. The analysis of the one-to-one and group conversations confirms that the lockdown severely altered the communication in WhatsApp chats compared to pre-pandemic time ranges. In particular, we observe short-term effects, which caused an increased message frequency in the first lockdown months and a shifted communication activity during the day in March and April 2020. Moreover, we also see long-term effects of the ongoing pandemic situation until February 2021, which indicate a change of communication behavior towards more regular messaging, as well as a persisting change in activity during the day. The results of our work show that even anonymized chat histories can tell us a lot about people’s behavior and especially behavioral changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and thus are of great relevance for behavioral researchers. Furthermore, looking at the pandemic from an Internet provider perspective, these insights can be used during the next pandemic, or if the current COVID-19 situation worsens, to adapt communication networks to the changed usage behavior early on and thus avoid network congestion.

Participatory parity through teaching with Telegram

The COVID19 pandemic thrust emergency remote teaching (ERT) into the global spotlight and thereby undeniably changed aspects of the higher education (HE) landscape. For a developing country such as South Africa (SA), the use of the mobile instant messaging (MIM) application (app) called Telegram represents a practicable solution to overcome historical socio-economic challenges faced by certain demographic groups of limited or restricted access to devices and data. Against this backdrop, a Telegram teaching intervention was developed by two lecturers in the Engineering Faculty at a University of Technology (UoT) in SA to deliver curriculum content and engage with students in a low-tech, low-cost/low-data usage manner, and consequently to widen access to education, promote inclusivity and thereby facilitate student access, retention and success. This study explored student perceptions of the MIM app being used as a primary vehicle to deliver succinct instructional materials and facilitate class activities to offset the lack of faceto-face classes in a multimodal and flexible curriculum delivery approach. Following the completion of the Telegram teaching intervention, a mixed method approach was used that included two online surveys measuring different aspects of the same project (n=34 and n=32) and a focus group interview (n=6). Three research lenses suggested by Fraser (2008) were used to evaluate student perceptions of the usefulness and (dis)advantages of Telegram. These lenses were: (1) redistribution (of resources), (2) recognition (related to social status) and (3) representation (who can act/say/ challenge in an academic environment). Ethical clearance was obtained from Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Ethics committee. Initial results indicate that using the Telegram app for teaching and learning was successful. Significantly, the app allows for the emergence of a socially just online classroom environment and an inclusive and enabling learning experience for the students during a very disruptive and fearful time in the world’s history.

Mobile instant messaging for ELT

In this series, we explore technology-related themes and topics. The series aims to discuss and demystify what may be new areas for some readers and to consider their relevance for English language teachers. The use of mobile devices and, in particular, mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications in ELT classrooms has been the subject of research in recent years. Undoubtedly, classroom environments need to adapt to constant technological development in order to foster language teaching and learning opportunities, and to keep pace with a fast-evolving world. In this context, MIM appears to be a potential tool for language teaching, which can take advantage of existing social practices involving the exchange of messages, whether visual or aural, among individuals at different times and places. At the same time, the inherent characteristics of MIM applications (e.g. WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, Telegram, Kaotalk, Facebook Messenger) allow: instant delivery of messages through a pop-up mechanism; text,...

Fear Factor in Seeking Dental Care among Saudis during COVID-19 Pandemic.

The recent coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to major lifestyle changes. The present study sought to assess factors associated with fear to seek dental care during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. An online questionnaire was filled by a convenient sample of adult Saudi residents through mobile instant messaging application. The following measures were collected: sociodemographic characteristics, fear of COVID-19 using validated Fears of Illness and Virus Evaluation scale, fear to seek dental care, perceived health status, and COVID-19 experience. There were 826 participants involved in this study (541 females and 285 males, mean age: 38.8 ± 13.29 years). Fear to seek dental care was significantly higher among females, younger age groups, people who perceived poor general and oral health, and people who perceived high risk of contracting the virus in dental clinics. After controlling for confounders, fear to seek dental care was significantly higher among the age group of 35–44 years, those who perceived high and moderate risk of COVID-19 infection in dental clinics, and among participants who reported untreated dental conditions. Fear that Others Get Sick, Fear of the Impact on Social Life, and Behaviors Related to Illness and Virus Fears were significantly associated with high levels of fear to seek dental care. Within the study’s limitations, fear of COVID-19 negatively impacted the study population’s willingness to seek dental treatment. Factors such as age, perceived risk of COVID-19 infection in dental clinics, and untreated dental conditions were associated with fear to seek dental care.