The spread of fake information through social media only added to the chaos of the pandemic in people’s lives. WhatsApp’s priority was to find ways to address this issue—and as its top forwarding nation, India was the toughest nut to crack. We were commissioned to investigate what might help people across India reconsider forwards and forwarding on WhatsApp…
Our investigation gave WhatsApp a first-of-its-kind view into why India sends the maximum forwards in the world, and potential ways to solve for this. Challenges for solutions include tackling uniquely Indian behaviours like saving forwards to the phone gallery before sending them on as ‘originals’, and in general, ignoring UX / UI elements in the colour grey. So far, setting limits and restrictions are emerging as the most effective ways to take these on.
The spread of fake information through social media only added to the chaos of the pandemic in people’s lives. WhatsApp’s priority was to find ways to address this issue—and as its top forwarding nation, India was the toughest nut to crack. We were commissioned to investigate what might help people across India reconsider forwards and forwarding on WhatsApp…
Our investigation gave WhatsApp a first-of-its-kind view into why India sends the maximum forwards in the world, and potential ways to solve for this. Challenges for solutions include tackling uniquely Indian behaviours like saving forwards to the phone gallery before sending them on as ‘originals’, and in general, ignoring UX / UI elements in the colour grey. So far, setting limits and restrictions are emerging as the most effective ways to take these on.
