Bridging the digital divide: Reflections on using WhatsApp instant messenger interviews in youth research

Although there is potential to use instant messaging interviews in youth research, it is important to understand how this method shapes the research encounter and the data produced. This article describes a researcher’s use of WhatsApp to conduct digital interviews with young people about their social media practices. Young people’s familiarity with this technology empowers them through easier access to the research interview, greater freedom to talk about sensitive issues, the ability to express themselves via text and the possibility of exercising greater control over the interview. This may result in a corresponding lack of power for the researcher. This inversion of the traditional power relation between researchers and participants might facilitate young people’s voices being heard more clearly in youth research. This medium also provides rich, multi-media insights into the world of young people, not readily accessed through other methods.