There are more ways to send a message via phone than we can count. This wasn’t the case ten or more years ago when options were limited to only one, SMS. Despite the heavenly available options of instant messaging apps, it’s getting harder than ever for people to pick the one that suits them.
Some of us use WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger or perhaps other services such as Snapchat or Google Hangouts. Some favor video and voice call apps such as Skype, Line, Viber or Tango. Others, on the other hand, switch between all of these on daily basis.
But why so many apps? Perhaps for the same reason of why we use a variety of social media sites on the web. It’s not for the sake of change, the love of change is not in our DNA unfortunately. It’s rather for finding a place we like and feel comfortable in before we stick to it.
In the light of this, many services have incorporated additional features that allow users to do more than just exchanging messages and emoji. With WeChat, for instance, users can also send and receive money, buy clothes, order food and even control their household appliances remotely.
Why open hundreds of apps on your phone to do separate things when you can do all within one? The founder of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has once envisioned a day when people would just need Facebook to do about anything they need an internet for. WeChat already made it halfway toward that vision in China where the app is used by nearly half of it’s population.
Whether it’s to help a client, buy a book, or just say hi to a friend, it wouldn’t be a surprise that within forty years we’ll all be communicating on some platform that identifies us by username, in an era where phone numbers and SMS would go down in history.
It’s just a matter of time before some company (or individual) comes up with a revolutionary communication solution that stir a global mass adoption. While this is still far into the future, the best piece of advice for current mobile users to communicate with others wherever they feel comfortable, and to embrace change from time to time by exploring every new and trendy.
