Getting acquainted with social networks and apps: WhatsApp-ening with mobile instant messaging?
Abstract
Purpose
The use of mobile messaging (MM) or mobile instant messaging has grown in the past few years at astonishing rates.
Design/methodology/approach
This growth has prompted data gatherers and trend forecasters to look at the use of MM apps in different ways than in the past.
Findings
In a 2015 survey, The Pew Research Center asked about the use of MM apps separately from cell phone texting for the first time (Duggan, 2015).
Originality/value
Digital marketing site eMarketer.com published their first ever worldwide forecast for MM in 2015. This forecast report shows 1.4 billion current users of MM apps or 5 per cent of smartphone users accessing an MM app at least once a month. This is a 31.6 per cent increase from the previous year. The forecast predicts that by 2018, there will be two billion users, representing 80 per cent of smartphone users (eMarketer.com, 2015).
Keywords
Citation
Anderson, K.E. (2016), "Getting acquainted with social networks and apps: WhatsApp-ening with mobile instant messaging?", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-07-2016-0032
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited