WhatsApp is one the world's most popular social media apps, as well as one of the most popular chat-based, closed platforms. Utilizing the insights from 19 in-depth interviews, we approach WhatsApp from a cultural perspective of ritual communication, seeking to understand how people make sense of WhatsApp use in their daily lives. We found WhatsApp is largely used to maintain community and fellowship with friends, coworkers, family, and even acquaintances or strangers. However, WhatsApp use is not wholly cohesive or harmonious. Social life on WhatsApp can become highly fragmented given numerous groups, and more groups mean more messages that individuals struggle to keep up with. We define the central nature of WhatsApp in Indian social life as India's WhatsApp imaginary, in which ritualized mobile media practices intertwine with cultural contexts to transcend borders, connect people via mobile affordances, and sustain daily social and business lives.

中文翻译：

---

革命将被转发：审讯印度的 WhatsApp 虚构

WhatsApp 是世界上最受欢迎的社交媒体应用程序之一，也是最受欢迎的基于聊天的封闭平台之一。利用来自 19 次深度访谈的见解，我们从仪式交流的文化角度研究 WhatsApp，试图了解人们如何理解 WhatsApp 在日常生活中的使用。我们发现 WhatsApp 主要用于与朋友、同事、家人甚至熟人或陌生人保持社区和团契。然而，WhatsApp 的使用并不完全一致或和谐。鉴于众多群组，WhatsApp 上的社交生活可能会变得高度分散，而更多群组意味着个人难以跟上的消息更多。我们将 WhatsApp 在印度社交生活中的核心性质定义为印度的 WhatsApp 想象，