The Trends of Using What’s-up application by the Jordanian imams in religious awareness

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the different uses of the "WhatsApp" application by the Imams of the Jordanian Mosques. The study used the descriptive survey methodology to collect data from the study population characterized by the Imams who are officially assigned by the Ministry of Waqif and Islamic Affairs. The study population consists of (2035) Imams, meanwhile, a sample of (607) imams have been chosen randomly, (401) of which use the WhatsApp application for raising and communicating religious awareness, however, (206) Imams of the chosen sample do not use the WhatsApp. Based on two theories; the media richness, and "uses and gratifications", the researcher found Imams “What‟sup” is an effective application that is widely used to communicate with people as well as sharing religious awareness, due to its opportunity of starting group conversations, where the religious messages sent by imams are concentrated, which includes verses from the Holy Qur‟an and its interpretation, the Hadiths of Prophet Mohammed, and Islamic literature. The results also showed that the most prominent WhatsApp media used are text messages followed by videos and then picture.