In today’s digital world, group projects are part of both academic and professional life. And that requires careful planning and communication. It seems almost unsurprising that it’s so popular, with many teams automatically turning to the ubiquitous green face of WhatsApp. But is WhatsApp Web the desktop browser version of the service a promising place for managing collaborative projects, or does its easy accessibility trump significant drawbacks?
The Alluring Convenience of WhatsApp Web
There’s no denying the immediate appeal of using WhatsApp Web for group projects. For starters, presumably almost everyone already has the app on their phone and understands the interface. It’s easy to set up a group, just add members and you’re ready to go. The platform comes with instant messaging, voice notes, sharing of documents and video calls, all in a very seeming all-in-one environment. And again, it’s a big deal that WhatsApp Web is already in a browser on a desktop or laptop, so you can type more comfortably and make better use of the space as opposed to a tiny mobile screen. This saves you time and effort at the outset.
The Pitfalls: Where WhatsApp Web Falls Short
But all that also comes with a cost. If your only means to communicate with a team is chat on WhatsApp Web, then it’s easy to get all the balls rolling if you don’t have many other ways to do it. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of organization. As messages, files are sent, what’s really important gets lost under a sea of random replies and casual chatter. There’s no easy way to pin important messages to the top of a chat and no way to thread conversations if something is important you may be missing a deadline because you can’t type something like “hello” into a WhatsApp chat without missing it.
Furthermore, although WhatsApp Web has a document sharing option, it has some severe limitations: the files are stored in a shared media gallery (which makes them much harder to find) and there is no version control; if someone uploads an updated version of a report the file is displayed as a completely new file (meaning you cannot discern which version is the last), a real failure of collaborative editing, resulting in team members doing work on stuff they don’t even have access to.
The Critical Confusion: WhatsApp Web vs. Zap Web
We also need to point out another frequent misconception: Many users use the service as “Zap Web” this is not the case. Zap Web is not an official product of WhatsApp (or Meta) and it’s simply a matter of mishearing or typing in what is the actual name (whatsapp Web) while using WhatsApp. However, this misinterpretation also causes users to use an unofficial third party site or app to pretend to be “Zap Web, ” potentially exposing them to very serious security vulnerabilities. Here’s how to safely use WhatsApp Web: You’ll only use the official web client when using WhatsApp. When you visit web.whatsapp.com in your browser, it’s going to be all encrypted and secure.
Security and Professionalism Considerations
As long as you’re using WhatsApp to communicate professionally (or indeed are primarily doing academic work) it may be that the casual nature of the application may impede your performance. Having project-related messages mixed in with personal communications via the same app might be distracting, unprofessional, and may raise issues with data governance policies at some academic institutions or organizations.
The Verdict: A Tool, Not a Solution
So is WhatsApp Web the right choice? The answer is at the very least complicated. WhatsApp Web is a good secondary tool for fast-and-loose informal communication and rapid updates. It has an advantage in being really easy to connect with and generally having high open rates for messages. It should however not be the primary project management site you use.
For the best collaboration results, teams should use dedicated tools to accomplish their goals. Slack for communication; Google Drive or Dropbox for file storage & version control; Trello for task assignment & progress tracking; Asana for project and project management; etc. These tools are specially built for group work, allowing people to remain organized, accessible, & accountable.
Finally, WhatsApp Web may be a handy addition to your project management tools, particularly if you need to check in quickly and get emergency messages sorted out. But if you always take it into your projects, you’re doing yourself a disservice. So learn what it can’t do, then pair it with better software to gain all the conveniences of use while avoiding an epic project chaos. Just note that, for official use and the most secure way to use it, you must be using WhatsApp Web otherwise there’s no Zap Web whatsoever.