Political discussion on WhatsApp groups among IIUM students

The study aims to explore the usage of WHatsApp among young Malaysian voters in discussing Malaysian issues or topic. It is also conducted to investigate the kinds of political and related issues discussed by the members of the created WhatsApp groups. In the context of the recent Malaysia General Election (GE 14), held on 9 May 2018, WhatsApp was seen by political observers and media practitioners as an attractive virtual gathering place for some Malaysians to express and share their opinions and observations of MAlaysian politics. This study wis exploratory and experimental in nature which employed virtual focus group, with two different groups of respondents, assigned to two different WhatsApp groups, i.e. control group and experimental group. The discussions among the members of both groups were monitored from 23rd April 2018 until 10 May 2018. Both groups were exposed to political news i.e. pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) or/and pro-Opposition, reported by several news agencies. The control group was fed with pro-BN new only, whereas the experimental group was fed with pro-BN and pro-Opposition news. The findings of the study showed that some respondents, in both groups, actively participated in political discussion on the WhatsApp. The interactive and user-friendly features of the application that allowed the respondents to express their opinions and at the same time attached additional information or evidence made/turn their discussions into evidence-based and detailed exchange of ideas on Malaysian politics. The data analysis also indicated that WhatsApp also provided the ambience of real political discussions, similar to that of face-to-face group communication; despite that the fact the respondents might not know each other, and could simply express their thoughts or sentiments on political or related issues in Malaysia