Use of Whatsapp social media as platform for crowdfunding: Selected observations in Tanzania

Abstract

Crowdfunding which is raising small amounts of resources – mainly financial – from many people in order to collect huge sums for a particular purpose has been practiced by some societies over years. The practice of crowdfunding today makes the use of different kinds of platforms necessary. This paper presents a survey of 18 observations and one in-depth case study of WhatsApp groups in Tanzania where WhatsApp social media has been used mainly between 2018 and 2019 as a platform for crowdfunding. The paper is mainly informed by secondary data. It identifies purposes of the observed crowdfunding, number of individuals involved in each round of crowdfunding per group, total amounts of funds raised per group per round of crowdfunding, maximum and minimum amounts contributed per group as well as average contribution per contributor in a round of crowdfunding.