The power of chat interfaces
Chat messaging has become the default form of direct communication between people on the internet. We all chat, every day, with friends, family and thanks to the proliferation of tools like Slack, even co-workers. It has become the most ubiquitous and fastest way to exchange thoughts, images and, with emojis, even feelings 😌. Chat messaging has transcended platforms — it works well on desktop as well as mobile — and generations, as it’s being used by young and old people alike.
Chat is simple
The success of the chat interface lies in its simplicity. The linear structure of the chat feed presents the conversation as a clear timeline — the latest message is always at the bottom, but you are free to scroll further up to see what’s been said before. Authors of the messages are also clearly represented with profile images and names. You always know who said what, even if it’s a group conversation. The interaction bar, always waiting for your response, is hard to miss and always present at the bottom of the screen.
This simple design makes it really easy for everyone to understand how the chat functions. It gives the user a clear overview, full control of the conversation and makes interaction with it fast, straightforward and comfortable.
Chat is used by everyone
In the past decade, chat has successfully survived the shift from desktop to mobile computing. Messaging apps like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger are constantly in the top 5 most downloaded apps in the world. Because of its utilitarian value, chatting (or DM’ing) has also become an integral part of numerous other apps and tools.
Whatsapp, the dominant chat app is being used by 1 billion people daily. While the usage is understandably skewed toward younger audiences (in Spain it’s being used by staggering 98% of female teens aged between 16–24) older generation use chat as well (NEED STATISTIC HERE).
Chat goes beyond messaging
Because of its ubiquity chat interface can be used for other purposes as well. In the past years we’ve seen the rise of chatbots that help you make table reservations or hotel bookings. We’ve also seen chat delve into storytelling and gaming. The popularity of so-called chat fiction has exploded along with apps like Yarn and Hooked. Reading novels in a mobile friendly, simple to use chat-like interface, has proven to be highly engaging and addictive. Similar phenomena happened in gaming, where games like Tinker Island and Choices use it a great way to drive the game narrative.
Chat as a tour guide
At Nexto, we’re well aware of the power of chat. We implemented it as a central component for our guides that help you learn the stories and history of places as you travel. Turns out, chat works perfectly as a tour guide! It gives you full control over the pace of your explorations and it creates a very personal feeling, as if you’re talking to an actual person — either a local guide or a historic person.
Using chat for storytelling also helps to keep the attention of younger audiences that tend to be quickly distracted or bored, especially when faced with historic or educational content in the form of traditional audio guides. Breaking larger texts into smaller, bite sized messages that are presented in a format, so familiar and native to them, can be a lot more engaging.
And taking it even further: chat structure enables us to incorporate mini-games, puzzles, quizzes directly in the feed and thus making the exploration even more interactive and exciting. Adding elements of augmented reality that can display objects and virtual characters in the real world makes the whole experience truly unique and memorable. Specially if users can be rewarded for completing challenges by unlocking fun and unique Instagram face filters.
Chat content is easy to consume, but also very to produce. Using Nexto Studio anyone can build chat guides in a matter of minutes. Select a location, define a talking character, put in the script and a few images and you’re ready to go.
You want to give it a try?
Visit www.nexto.io and try our demo app or schedule a call with our team.
