Conversation and dissemination of political information in WhatsApp: an analysis of the "black box" from the theories of interaction in social networks

Abstract

Instant messaging applications are creating spaces for conversation and information exchange that, due to their encrypted nature, cannot be easily analyzed. Taking into account this circumstance, the research aims to know if WhatsApp, in relation to the political messages, describes operating dynamics analogous to the rest of open social networks, that is, to what extent the theory about echo chambers and filter bubbles can be adapted to the exchanges of political content that occur in this application. It also seeks to know if the communication that occurs in this social network accommodates the "one-to-many" pattern and not the "one-to-one" system. To do this, a descriptive study was chosen with an exploratory purpose and a self-administered online survey was carried out with a sample of 713 people using the application in Spain. The results indicate that on WhatsApp, the dialogue on political issues could preferably be taking place in "one-to-many" group interaction spaces and not in private chats. Similarly, it has been possible to observe the centrality that negative emotions and interpersonal conflict caused by political issues, the apparent non-existence of echo chambers and the presumed presence of imported filter bubbles from other digital spaces, acquire for the sample. Deciphering the great "black box" from the theoretical body already developed for the analysis of other social networks will allow us to know with greater precision the hitherto unpredictable incidence of the dissemination of information.