What's Up with WhatsApp, Malaysia?

I was doing some research on common messaging tools used by Malaysians. We need to determine which ones to focus on for the business to provide better customer experience to our business customers. I remember there were news last year on how Malaysians are the World's largest WhatsApp users, then I came across this report:

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According to the data (as of 3rd quarter of last year), 68% of Malaysian population are active WhatsApp users. Based on this conclusion, we should definitely put WhatsApp as one of the preferred tools to increase our customer's engagement and therefore, improve the entire customers experience.

Looking at my WhatsApp, there are some family groups created where I could see my aunts, uncles, grandaunts & granduncles were sharing some 'sensitive' memes and 'news' about the coming general election. Then, more messages were forwarded from God knows which source and most of the group members take the information without even doubting its authenticity and start commenting passionately about the topic.

Thinking about the survey results and the messages in my WhatsApp groups, I actually got a little concerned. For us who are more tech savvy, we have access to multiple resources to validate any news received. The concern is to those folks at the rural areas who are more naive & trust easily.

In communication, I strongly believe that the sender should bear the responsibility of validating the truth before disseminating any message. But is this the case for everybody? Do the senders think about the truth before sending the messages? With what is going on around us, sadly, the receiver must now check the authenticity of this sort of WhatsApp message before believing it or forwarding it to others. Benefit of the doubt to the senders though, they may just be administrative staffs who are paid to send the messages. Afterall, during this tough time, they need to earn to eat too, right?.