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

TL;DR

This paper explores how small business owners in India face challenges adapting to WhatsApp Business's formalized features, highlighting issues of marginalization and digital colonialism in the transition from personal to professional use.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Coercive Professionalization and examines the impact of platform standardization on marginalized users in the context of WhatsApp Business.

Findings

Small business owners creatively adapt to new features.

Users feel marginalized by complex, costly tools.

Standardization reinforces power imbalances and digital colonialism.

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.