Dear colleagues, Apologies for cross posting Myself and co-authors, Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez and Emma Baulch, would like to let you know about our new book, out now with Polity Digital Media and Society Series. The book traces the story of WhatsApp's technical, social and commercial development. It charts the rise of WhatsApp through the 2010s, as chat apps became a primary mode of communication for many people across the world. In this context WhatsApp quickly outpaced rival messaging apps and developed into a default communication app for users around the world, particularly in the Global South. But after Meta's purchase of WhatsApp in 2014, we argue that WhatsApp took another step in its evolution, transforming from a simple, 'gimmickless' app into a global communication platform, with its business and broadcasting functions elevating WhatsApp above its former chat app status. We argue that understanding this development can shed light on the trajectory of Meta's industrial development, and how digital economies and social media landscapes are evolving with the rise of 'superapps'. The book's chapters chart this evolution across multiple dimensions, exploring how WhatsApp's unique characteristics mediate new kinds of social and commercial transactions; how they pose new opportunities and challenges for platform regulation, civic participation and democracy; and how they give rise to new kinds of digital literacy as WhatsApp becomes integrated into everyday digital cultures across the globe. Please see the table of contents: Introduction Chapter One: Why WhatsApp Matters Chapter Two: Platform Biography Chapter Three: Everyday Uses of WhatsApp Chapter Four: WhatsApp Publics: Activism, News, Disorder Chapter Five: WhatsApp Business Model Chapter Six: WhatsApp Futures To find more information or to purchase go to this link - https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=whatsapp-from-a-one-to-one-... - I encourage you to recommend it to your universities and institutions. As the book has been written to be accessible to undergraduate students, we also recommend that key chapters be used in your course readings lists. Warm wishes from us, Amelia Johns Associate Professor, Digital and Social Media Academic Liaison Officer, School of Communication Pronouns: She/Her Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Technology Sydney T: +61 2 9514 2294 PO Box 123. Broadway NSW 2007 Australia UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views of the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. Think. Green. Do. Please consider the environment before printing this email.