It’s simple: Messaging > Texting
Here’s what that means and why it’s true.
“You know what’s ridiculously cool? This app for NEWS!” — Said No-one Ever
That is, until Quartz launched their news app in 2016. Which was actually…a chat app.
Stay with me:
The Quartz app shunned usual long-form articles in favor of news delivered via messages. Each piece of news comes in small, easy-to-consume text bubbles — and the entire experience is interactive. After receiving an ‘introduction’ snippet, you can either tell the app to move to the next news, or choose to dig into the current one. From there, it genuinely feels like texting — emojis and all — making news consumption easier and more fun than ever.
Quartz’s idea of the perfect news app was a chat app!
And you know what? It’s ridiculously cool.
There’s more to messaging than meets the eye
We’re all familiar with the concept of ‘texting’. A lot of us use it as our preferred mode of communication. But take a second look at today’s messaging platforms — like WeChat, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Telegram — and ask yourself this: Are these just texting apps?
If you’ve spent any amount of time on them, you already know that the answer is ‘No’. So maybe it’s time to flush our unreasonably narrow idea of what messaging means down the proverbial crap-pot. Because ‘messaging’ today is more than just a means of communication —
It is an interface capable of delivering a variety of experiences and services.
In fact, almost any conceivable service could be delivered through messaging!
For instance: Think of a to-do/task list app where every task is a message, or any message can be converted into a task. This would not only allow for killer functionality around how users make task lists, but also ensure strong context when collaborating around tasks.
Here’s another idea: Messaging-based journal apps. A conversational interface for a journal could potentially change how people record (and even share) their lives — in snippets that feel more natural and in line with our fleeting thoughts, rather than tedious long-form text that generally requires a lot more effort. And yet again, the feature-set you could build around this is only limited by your imagination.
“Why hasn’t anybody built this sh*t yet?”
- Gandhi
If these ideas sound outlandish, that’s because they are new and unexplored. But then again, so was the ridiculously cool news app.
Anything is a message if you’re creative enough
It’s true. Take Instagram. What is it? A social media platform? Sure. But what is it really? An endless stream of photos that people ‘like’ and comment on.
And how different is that from when we share media on a group chat? Yeah, you get the drift.
In fact, the conversations that’d ensue on the group would be so much richer and more meaningful! And it’s all because of the comfort of an actual conversation. It’s the very nature of the interface that not only removes any inhibitions about engaging in a conversation, but pushes us to respond.
The more learned among us call it a “conversational interface.”
And if you haven’t noticed, these things are all the rage. Let’s take a look:
1. Collaboration through Messaging
As I type this out in Google Docs, I am starkly aware of the little ‘chat bubble’ icon right beside the big blue ‘SHARE’ button. With just a click, I can start a live chat with my team to share status updates about my article, discuss content, and receive useful links or information; and I think to myself, ‘Life as a writer has never been easier.’ (Just kidding, this job sucks.)
Then there’s the services that specialize in collaboration: think Slack, Zoho, Stride and the hundreds of other workplace collaboration apps that are cropping up all around us. Each of these apps does more than let users chat — it lets them get things done through a messaging interface. Which makes sense, given that communication is at the centre of how we get things done.
2. Online Retail Experiences
Just when we thought shopping couldn’t get any easier, online retailers had a little epiphany: Of course we can bring in-store experiences to our online channels! When customers walk into a store, they tell a store-rep what they need, who then guides them to the relevant item. It’s conversation, it makes lives easier, and “silly us we’ve had it on the internet for decades!”
Messaging allows retailers to largely replicate this process on their websites and apps. Today, shopping can be as easy as sending a message with what you’re looking for and receiving a personalized reply along with a tailored list of products. What’s more — you can pay for your order, get shipping updates and request after-sales support from right within the messaging channel, all with the context of your conversation only a scroll away.
3. Service tracking and maintenance
Unlike the carefree customer, the retailer requires granular updates about shipments — which they can receive and interact with right within the channel. The value here is multi-faceted: it makes tracking, sharing updates with team members, and understanding the context of a customer’s problems easier than ever.
A more functional example lies in the realm of industrial IoT. Think monitoring of machinery. For an engineering team working on a windmill farm, maintenance has long been a tedious task. Viewing updates, sharing them with team members and troubleshooting problems together have always required disparate interfaces. Messaging allows for consolidation of all three functions into a simple interface — where sensor updates are received as events in a channel, which in turn allows for contextual discussions or troubleshooting. Jobs become easier, unions are happier, company makes more $$$.
Messaging isn’t just about texting or chatting. It’s about what you do with the interface, how you use it, and what you can build around it.
These are just some of the examples of how messaging is going bonkers. Want more? The intelligent assistant on your phone’s a great starting point. What do you see? That’s right — A messaging interface. Bam!
Look, the point is: Conversational interfaces just make everything more intuitive and human, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of what you can create with them.
Messaging apps started as a great idea to converse online, and have silently-but-steadily been evolving into so much more than just chat. But more importantly: Leading this charge are the people who imagine something entirely new, and have the right tools to bring their ideas to life.
And if you want to build messaging experiences that do more than just texting, head to Mitter.io and sign up for early access to our platform! We’ll send you an awesome starter kit in just a few short weeks.
This blog was written by Aniket —
Usually referred to as “it” in an effort by the developers to dehumanize its existence among them. Currently holds the vague position of a Communications Strategist at Mitter.io.
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