Behaviour of WAGs

 

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WAGs Analysing Chat Behaviour

The Types of WAGs

There are various types of WAGs (WhatsApp Groups) and they attract all sorts of people. I might do another post on the types of WAGs, but for now, let's focus on the users. Some of the regular WA users are listed below, more for fun than anything else. Read and react. Do you fit the bill in any of your groups?

The Winners

Ravi just left the conversation after a heated exchange and the rest of us are left to continue (Who’s left?). Raging controversy on the group. Who's right? Whoever is left! This happens pretty often when there is controversy. People leave. And whoever is left feels they have “won”.

Lurkers and Scanners

These people rarely post.  They may read and delete or they may just not read the messages. They might have the option of “archiving” the group, so that the pings do not disturb them. Or they mute the notifications and read at leisure.

Peekers and Voyeurs

This bunch of people are really interested in seeing visual posts which they can capture or forward. These people are also often guilty of sending out posts that are unfair and not validated. Rumour-mongers is another name for a subset of this group.

Hijackers

Have you ever been a part of a WAG where a particular person has a view on every post? They will underline every statement made by someone else, like a referee. And will add their own examples which may put others off. 

The Forward types

This is a very large group of people.  There are different types of Forwarders a few of which are mentioned here:

Cartoonists and Jokers need no introduction.  All they forward are memes, cartoons and jokes that they found elsewhere.  Nothing original about it.  Out of the box - straight out of the box! 

Recyclers blame it on loss of memory or lack of attention but they invariably resend some post that has already been shared. Also known as Throwbacks. And there are usually some people in the group to locate the earlier message and inform everyone that “we have already seen this”. 

Unputdownable Well wishers 

They will get to you publicly in the group! Invariably you find that “disappearing messages are turned off” by them. They will wish you for every real or imaginary festival. Ubiquitous Good mornings and then Happy Good Friday (which Christians observe as a day of mourning), even an occasional thumbs up to acknowledge the death of a member! They also start WA-terfalls of wishes. "Isn't it your Anniversary? Happy Anniversary!" Your feeble response, "It isn't my anniversay" is drowned in the cascading waterfall of wishes that are unleashed! 

The Shy-sters

Have you glanced at your screen and seen someone "typing"? You wait in anticipation as you have never read a post from that person. Minutes later you're  still waiting and the "typing" stops.  These are the Shy-sters, too bashful to press send. They think, ink, and delete, … forever “typing”. 

The Coach

On the other side you have the Coach with his motivational harangue “come on everyone, let’s have your views” or an encouraging, "Don't worry we're all in this together" - which really worries you. You don’t know in what you are together.

Hitchhikers or Thumbs Up addicts

Almost every post is met by a flurry of thumbs. This is particularly visible when someone of “status” posts something then the number of thumbs increases in number.

The Explainer

He has to put into detailed description what someone has just posted. So, "Our team won the football finals!" posted by the Coach will be followed by, "Terrific to know that the ABC team, ably assisted by Coach Amit, has annexed the XYZ Trophy in the recently concluded Soccer tournament held at PQR Stadium. My congratulations to all the team members, their parents, their housemaids and all who have …" You get the point? 

Auditors

They must check message information - “35 people have Read my message but no response.” You can’t hide from the Blue Ticks. The auditor might even follow through on personal messages (DMs or PMs) and ask, "Why haven't you responded to my post?" Suspiciously like the colleague who sends an email, then calls to tell you he's sent it, then checks the Return Receipt. 

This is surely not an exhaustive list.  There are the WAGs which are apparently created to gather the gang together, something like a guild. Once people are there they bombard the group with job requests and job offers and personal advertisement.  But at the end of the day, we all have the "Leave the Group" option and the "Delete Group" button!

Would love to hear your views too.