International Journal of Research in Social Sciences

A Social media is the collection of online communications dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Users are engaged with social media via computer, tablet or smart phone via web-based software or web application. This study deals with the access and usage pattern of ‘WhatsApp’ among a nomadic community in Tamil Nadu which is known as ‘Narikuravar’. They are termed as Gypsies. They are one of the marginalized communities of Tamil Nadu. They are deprived of the basic resources of life yet they are aware of the digital technologies. It is observed that the Gypsies have the online social participation which may be different from the main stream society. There are economical and cultural barriers which are associated in the usage of digital platform. The access and the usage pattern of WhatsApp within the community are studied incorporating qualitative method including content analysis and virtual ethnography. The samples were selected through snowball technique. It can be concluded that, the access and the usage pattern of ‘WhatsApp’ among the members is low but it is one of the popular medium among the community that motivates them towards education which is the prerequisite for the development of this community.