The hottest cross-platform mobile instant messaging app for smart phones WhatsApp is not only emerging as threat to the social networking sites but is also replacing traditional methods of invitations for happy and sad occasions.
People are not only using this app on their smart phones for inviting people on occasions like marriage, marriage anniversaries, birthdays, naming ceremony and other auspicious occasions besides sending condolence messages and invites for sad occasions such as teherveen and pagdi rasam etc.
WhatsApp founded in 2009 has also emerged as a big threat to social networking sites as unlike in the virtual world of social networking sites the people connected with each other turn out to be fake on many occasions, but on WhatsApp no such threat exits, as the people connected on this either are known to each other or get real identification once when they get connected as this app runs on the mobile phone and mobile number provides real identification thus the fear of getting in touch with fake identity is averted.
WhatsApp is gaining popularity as multimedia messages could be sent by uploading the image, audio or video instantly.
However, the app besides having many advantages for the modern generation also has its drawbacks as due to its increasing use the personal touch that used to be experienced while inviting people personally could not be felt now besides the socializing that used to happen while distributing invitations personally is also lost.
One Bhupendra Singh who invited people for his daughter's marriage through WhatsApp while talking to The Pioneer said, "The marriage was fixed in a hurry and due to little time in between we were not able to go personally to invite all the people that is why we chose to invite all relatives and friends through WhatsApp. We requested them through voice message to attend the ceremony explaining our compulsion for sending invite through this medium while providing the details of the programme of the marriage in text."
Singh further said, "People understood our problem and no one raised objection over this new method of invitation except for a few elders who were not happy but at the end they too attended the ceremony and blessed my daughter."