Modern messaging: what is really important for users?

Sending messages has become as easy for us as the ability to move, talk, have. It is simple, and we always spend a lot of time behind it. But what is the difference? In 1835, letters from Alfred de Musset to George Sand could be delivered for weeks. In 2015, Misha, who had never seen each other “live”, with Anya, whom the Tinder service introduced each other, communicate with each other and arrange a meeting in just two hours. The message itself is sent and delivered in less than a second.

We always wrote letters to each other, but now communication through written messages has become faster, better, more convenient. And despite the fact that our smartphones have already learned to recognize voice commands and quite adequately translate speech into printed text, an independent set of messages turned out to be more preferable for users. And there are simple explanations for this:

• It is more comfortable. It's easier for people to type messages of an erotic content than to slander them. You might think (this is best) before writing something.
• It is inconspicuous. People do not hear the contents of your message when you type a message in the "traditional way." In crowded places, not everyone can slam messages, but everyone can print. You do not always answer phone calls, but the plus of messages is that they come to us and wait in the wings.
• This is clear. You can add pictures, videos, as well as organize the connection of many additional functions and services.

Text messaging has become the most preferred method of communication and information exchange ... It has become reliable, mobile and suitable for all types of communication:

• To each other (iMessage)
• In groups (Whatsapp)
• With friends (Facebook Messenger)
• For dating (Tinder)
• With colleagues (Slack)
• For services (Magic)
• With anyone (Email)

Therefore, it is not surprising that users like it. And since the launch of Slack, and with the advent of specialized services (Operator, Magic and others), whose operators can (as if by magic) fulfill any whim, people more and more like to send text messages, which has almost become the cherished goal of modern man. In addition, sending messages at dinner is much easier to explain than the Bitcoin protocol.

Oh yes, messaging offers endless possibilities. Various modern technologies, coupled with artificial intelligence, are becoming increasingly widespread, and messaging has certainly not been used to its fullest over the past 10 years. But let's stop for a moment and think about it.

What really matters regarding the use of messaging as a technology is that the main goal of all this is to improve the user experience, and nothing more. How?

• Allowing quick access to information;
• Providing better interaction;
• Providing unique valuable experience, largely due to some original technology features (for example, time-limited content exchange on Snapchat).

Whatever tasks your application or your service solves - if you position messaging as the main feature, then make sure that your product has real value for users, combining unique qualities that allow for better interaction - faster than any other tools .

This is the food for thought and discussion.