Characteristics of Women WhatsApp Users and Use Pattern

There has been an increasing trend globally to use internet based services through smart mobile phone applications for seeking information. In this context, the study was planned in Punjab State of India to analyse the personal and socio-economic profile of 30 WhatsApp women users belonging to rural, urban and peri-urban areas each in relation to their use of WhatsApp. An interview schedule was developed to collect the data. Majority of respondents in all the three areas were young, belonging to general caste with high educational status but having low income as majority were housewives or students. They belonged to nuclear and small sized families. Very few variations were observed except that peri-urban areas had more respondents engaged in private sector for their earning and rural areas had more unmarried respondents and there were no extended family reported from rural areas. Beside, WhatsApp, Facebook was the most used application. Majority accessed internet through their touch smart phones with pre-paid internet connections and were using WhatsApp for more than 20 months. It was used mainly for personal chatting with nearly half of them reporting its use for more than 5 hours per day. It can therefore be used to disseminate information and knowledge to them. This can be very useful for quick dissemination of information which need to be acted upon urgently particularly among the young women who can act as the source of information for their families.