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> Messaging apps are the third phase of platforms on which digital audiences congregate. First came websites, then social networks and now messaging apps—which
by jlmorton 9y ago
> Messaging apps are the third phase of platforms on which digital audiences congregate. First came websites, then social networks and now messaging apps—which collectively accounted for 7.7 billion monthly active users (MAUs) at the end of 2017, up from 6.6 billion in 2016 and 5.5 billion in 2015. This is a massive segment that continues to grow at pace.
That's a pretty misleading claim. I guess I sort of understand what's being expressed here, but it feels weird to just add up every platform's monthly active users and come up with a number larger than the population of the Earth.
- vanderZwan 9y agoAlso, chat programs are older than social networks. You could even say it's the only application with direct lineage to using a phone as a phone (and let's not forget about texting). So how can they be the third phase after regular websites and then social networks?
- autokad 9y agoyeah, the best parts of the internet in the late 90s was chats and messenger apps. remember excite chat? i loved that, but mostly used irc. messenger wise, started using icq but people (me included) hated remembering a huge number to log in. AIM was great though, and msn messenger was great because it tied right into your email too.
- pault 9y agoMy brother and I spent hours every evening on a chat service called the Palace. I don't know what happened to it but it was probably responsible for at least a full point off my grade average. :)
- hkmurakami 9y agoSomewhere ICQ is rolling in its grave.
- paulie_a 9y agoFacebook has a messaging app problem, same as Google. Between those two companies they must have a dozen shitty apps, when icq solved that problem 10-15 years ago. I still remember my icq number: 5588776
- chime 9y agoIf you remember your password, you can still log into it at https://web.icq.com/ https://web.icq.com/
- jackmodern 9y agototally logged into my account for the first time in like 16-17 years. can't believe the service is still up and running, and that I haven't changed my default password since then... lol 73117649 :D
- halflings 9y agoAgreed for Google, but what are facebooks "dozen shitty [messaging] apps"? They own Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and Instagram. Pretty much all relevant DM vectors apart from Snapchat and twitter.
- _jsdw 9y agoJust saw this, and took a random stab at my number and password and to my massive surprise I got in! 50530999 My username still reflects when I played starsiege as a kid at some silly time over a dial up modem.. Wow!
- andirk 9y ago5251730
- datashaman 9y agoThe last release of ICQ was in 2016. Not in the grave yet. :)
- doomlaser 9y ago
- jsemrau 9y agoThe next phase will be nearby events happening now apps. I want to meet with real people in real time.
- executive 9y agoit's called Tinder
- skinnymuch 9y agoYou use Tinder to casually just meet up with people of either gender?
- brann0 9y agoExcuse me but... How can messaging apps have more users than humans on Earth? What part of that data am I missing?
- mkl 9y agoPeople often use multiple different messaging apps.
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y agoAnd some people have multiple accounts. Lots of these apps (Twitter, Instagram, etc) have corporate users. The corporate spokesperson on twitter probably also has a personal account.