Will newer forms of online communication ever replace email and text messaging?

[AY1975]

People are now increasingly switching to using newer forms of online communication such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, at least for personal communications (or at least the younger generations are). I wonder if these could eventually completely replace email and text messaging, both of which have been in widespread use for about the last 20-25 years at least.

I can see Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp becoming the norm for personal communications, although I would expect that email will still be the norm for business communications for the foreseeable future. Conventional text messaging could increasingly become the sole preserve of people who still only have an old style 2G mobile phone.

That said, even if you have a smartphone it is sometimes more convenient to use text messaging than WhatsApp and the like because WhatsApp and other forms of internet-based communication require wi-fi or a 3G, 4G or 5G mobile data signal whereas texting only requires a 2G signal and saves you having to log on to wi-fi or mobile data.

Also, email does give you a certain level of privacy in that if you give someone your email address they can email you but they can't voice call you, whereas if you give someone your mobile number or if you become friends with someone on Facebook they can also voice call you.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I'm in my early twenties, and almost never send texts - nowadays the likes of Facebook Messenger have replaced it for communications with my real life friends while sites such as Discord are good for communicating with people online who share my interests. They are particularly useful for larger groups, where there are far too many connections for texting everybody one-on-one to be efficient.

The one advantage of texting is similar to what you say about email - privacy and anonymity - since there's no need to make someone a friend or "follow" them to send them a text. Quite a few times I've got talking to people at the football or in a pub, and ended up wanting to keep in touch; for stuff like that I'd rather just give them my number than add them.

Email is more distinct and as you point out is more likely to be retained in business and professional contexts. I think most people my age see emails as quite formal which gives them more of a niche. I certainly wouldn't email any of my friends though!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I use FB Messenger and WA more than other methods these days.

 

[najaB]

People are now increasingly switching to using newer forms of online communication such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, at least for personal communications (or at least the younger generations are). I wonder if these could eventually completely replace email and text messaging, both of which have been in widespread use for about the last 20-25 years at least.

Completely replace? No, not any time soon at least. Largely because each of them - Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc - represents a walled garden. You can't (to the best of my knowledge) send a message on any of them unless you also have an account with them, and you can't (again, ttbomk) send messages between them. Email and SMS simply require that you have the correct destination address.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Completely replace? No, not any time soon at least. Largely because each of them - Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc - represents a walled garden. You can't (to the best of my knowledge) send a message on any of them unless you also have an account with them, and you can't (again, ttbomk) send messages between them. Email and SMS simply require that you have the correct destination address.

One thing I expect many don't realise is that Apple and I think now Android have their own IP based messaging systems which are used by default if the destination phone is on that same system. You can switch it off but most people don't.

If you can see the "bouncing dots" when someone replies then it is using one of those, SMS doesn't have the capability to know if the destination user is typing.

 

[RuddA]

One thing I expect many don't realise is that Apple and I think now Android have their own IP based messaging systems which are used by default if the destination phone is on that same system. You can switch it off but most people don't.

If you can see the "bouncing dots" when someone replies then it is using one of those, SMS doesn't have the capability to know if the destination user is typing.

As you say, Apple Messaging uses iMessage (blue) if the contact also uses Apple and sms (green) if they don't. I don't think imessage has the same age restrictions that WhatsApp etc. do (if people worry about this).

At work use of email has reduced as we use Teams messaging more now.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I hate Teams messaging with a passion, as it makes it difficult to prioritise urgent and non-urgent work.

iMessage is green, by the way, blue is SMS.

 

[RuddA]

iMessage is green, by the way, blue is SMS.

Must be configurable, mines the other way around.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Must be configurable, mines the other way around.

No, you're actually correct...I think I was just confusing it with the green messages icon.

 

[najaB]

One thing I expect many don't realise is that Apple and I think now Android have their own IP based messaging systems which are used by default if the destination phone is on that same system. You can switch it off but most people don't.

The Android implementation is a customisation of Rich Communication Services, which is the GSM Association's proposed replacement for SMS. As such it is (largely) an industry standard, open system just as SMS and SMTP are. I'm not sure about iMessage but if Apple is true to form it will be a proprietary system fundamentally incompatible with anything else.

 

[RuddA]

No, you're actually correct...I think I was just confusing it with the green messages icon.

No problem, I'm new to the iPhone after joining the rest of the household so still learning

 

[edwin_m]

I hate Teams messaging with a passion, as it makes it difficult to prioritise urgent and non-urgent work.

Someone sends me a message that says Hi, I say Hi back then sit there doing nothing until they've finished typing their actual message. I usually just call them back on the first message - if it's urgent enough to interrupt me then a call is much quicker.

Also various irritations with Teams such as getting chat for meetings I haven't joined or even have declined. It badly needs a lot more notification settings so the irrelevant stuff goes into the feed to be dealt with later and only the urgent items are notified.

 

[najaB]

Someone sends me a message that says Hi, I say Hi back then sit there doing nothing until they've finished typing their actual message.

That's a personal pet peeve of mine. Don't send "Hi." and then spend ten minutes typing the rest of your message. It's like people don't realise you can hit Shift+Enter to add a line break. Send:

Hi. How are you doing? <or pleasantries of your choice>

Quick question, <blah blah blah>

Not a hurry, get back to me when you can. Thanks.

...instead. Treat it more like email than like IM (since it is really email in the back end anyway).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yep. Send me the whole message and I can decide how to prioritise it.

 

[simonw]

People are now increasingly switching to using newer forms of online communication such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, at least for personal communications (or at least the younger generations are). I wonder if these could eventually completely replace email and text messaging, both of which have been in widespread use for about the last 20-25 years at least.

I can see Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp becoming the norm for personal communications, although I would expect that email will still be the norm for business communications for the foreseeable future. Conventional text messaging could increasingly become the sole preserve of people who still only have an old style 2G mobile phone.

That said, even if you have a smartphone it is sometimes more convenient to use text messaging than WhatsApp and the like because WhatsApp and other forms of internet-based communication require wi-fi or a 3G, 4G or 5G mobile data signal whereas texting only requires a 2G signal and saves you having to log on to wi-fi or mobile data.

Also, email does give you a certain level of privacy in that if you give someone your email address they can email you but they can't voice call you, whereas if you give someone your mobile number or if you become friends with someone on Facebook they can also voice call you.

I'd say that your question is at least 5 years behind the times in the way you word your opening paragrap h.

 

[dakta]

I wind people up because if they are people you speak to a lot and you're on the ball enough to see the dots you can say Hi back before they've hit enter

 

[najaB]

I wind people up because if they are people you speak to a lot and you're on the ball enough to see the dots you can say Hi back before they've hit enter

Yeah. When I'm in the office (at least in the beforetimes) I would usually have Teams open all the time on the third monitor, so could see when any of my recent contacts were starting to type a new message. Depending on who it was it would either be a pre-emptive "Hi", wait and see or a strategic coffee break!

 

[edwin_m]

Treat it more like email than like IM (since it is really email in the back end anyway).

So why don't people just use email instead?

 

[najaB]

So why don't people just use email instead?

Because it's more interactive to use Teams if it's something that needs some back and forth. Plus, you can always switch to a voice call/screen share if needed.

 

[PeterY]

Call me old fashioned but I still use text's and e-mail and I even call people if I need to talk to them. I've yet to get a smart phone. To be honest I survive quite well without one.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Because it's more interactive to use Teams if it's something that needs some back and forth. Plus, you can always switch to a voice call/screen share if needed.

Teams is really the equivalent for remote workers of popping by someone's desk.

 

[GusB]

Facebook messenger seems to be the default for family communication nowadays, but irritates me intensely when people try to have a conversation with me using text when it would often be a hell of a lot easier if they just phoned me.

I've no objection to someone messaging me to say that they'll be late meeting me in the pub, but I'd rather do the organising by voice in the first place.

 

[Giugiaro]

Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp,

I'd say that your question is at least 5 years behind the times in the way you word your opening paragrap h.

I was about to say the same. Almost no one I know talks to me on WhatsApp. I have moved on from Facebook since last year. And I barely go to Instagram (the Twitter Algorithm seems to work better for me, despite the hellfire the platform users are).

I mostly use Discord, Telegram and Line to talk with most other people. Discord is excellent for large communities, while Telegram is adequate for individuals and small groups. It also has better media sharing options than Discord.
"Line" is a specific use case. I use it to talk with Japanese speaking friends. And one Swiss that decided he was too cool to use Telegram!

Despite having Teams installed on my PC, I use e-mail primarily for work. It's WAY better to save my arse every time someone accuses me of missing tasks.

Regarding SMS, I use it whenever I need to say something to someone by phone without bothering them with a phone call.
For example, If I need to confirm that I'll be meeting with someone for dinner, I can send an SMS with a short confirmation.
I can avoid interrupting someone at work while benefiting from SMS being more "visible" on the notification centre than other messaging apps.

 

[philosopher]

The main trend I have noticed in online communication in personal settings over the last couple years are voice notes on Whatapps, which are basically voicemail messages but through Whatapps. Some people I seem to use voice notes quite extensively, others however do not use them at all.

 

[najaB]

Some people I seem to use voice notes quite extensively, others however do not use them at all.

I can count on one hand the number of voice notes I've ever left.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The main trend I have noticed in online communication in personal settings over the last couple years are voice notes on Whatapps, which are basically voicemail messages but through Whatapps. Some people I seem to use voice notes quite extensively, others however do not use them at all.

I can't see much of a use case. Either I want to talk to the person or I don't.

 

[py_megapixel]

Because it's more interactive to use Teams if it's something that needs some back and forth. Plus, you can always switch to a voice call/screen share if needed.

I think almost every organisation that uses Teams also uses Outlook Webmail (because they're both part of the Office 365 package). It's basically as easy to switch to a Teams call from there as from a thread on Teams.

I find it annoying that Teams messages can't be sorted into folders (emails, of course, can).

Outlook Webmail is actually has quite a good UI (surprising for Microsoft software), there generally isn't much latency between messages, and it does quite a competent job of sorting emails into threads. One thing that can absolutely go to hell, though, is the ability to "like" emails.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suspect more businesses use "fat" Outlook than the web client.

 

[317 forever]

Call me old fashioned but I still use text's and e-mail and I even call people if I need to talk to them. I've yet to get a smart phone. To be honest I survive quite well without one.

I'm proud not to have a smart phone either and to focus on the communication channels you mention.

I do use Teams at work though rather than email most of the time.

 

[87 027]

Our corporate policy is that Teams messages are the electronic equivalent of chats in the corridor; they are seen as ephemeral and all messages are deleted after 7 days. If a more enduring business record is needed then email should be used