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I really like Element. And I tried to get my friends away from WhatsApp. Over half of the people asked me how to send voice messages. I came across this ticket

I really like Element. And I tried to get my friends away from WhatsApp. Over half of the people asked me how to send voice messages. I came across this ticket while searching for the feature: https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/issues/1358 https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/issues/1358 From then on, it was clear to me that I could stop my attempts to bring people to Matrix. To be honest, the discussion in the ticket frustrated me deeply. The ticket is open since 2016 and the topics discussed in it are not oriented towards the users of this world, but towards some almost completely uninteresting technical details. Over the years, several people have intensively pointed out how important this feature is. Those responsible must pull themselves together and find a solution for it.

OJFord 6y ago
> Over half of the people asked me how to send voice messages. This is a very regionally desirable feature, in my experience. I have never (deliberately) sent a voice message on any platform, nor do I know anybody (well/any more) who would. But I went to a university with a high proportion of Chinese students, and it was really striking how much that feature was used (in apps that supported it obviously). I'm just speculating, but I wondered if it was at least partly because of the tonal nature (roughly speaking: four intonations for each vowel, rendering completely different words, not just subtle changes in tone/emphasis) of mandarin, and relatively large number of different characters, making vocal communication more efficient than written; to an even greater extent than that may be true of English, for example. I'm not really sure what I'm saying. Maybe it's not good to burn one market, maybe it is good to focus on excelling in others if (if!) the alternative is mediocrity everywhere, I don't know. Your comment just reminded me and I thought it was vaguely interesting.
- hda2 6y ago
  Do you message older people? I interact with multiple and they find audio messages to be indispensable. (Who can blame them when recording a voice message is vastly easier than getting your glasses and typing out a message on a small screen with even beady on-screen buttons). In addition to old people, I also message a disabled person to whom speech and recorded messages are her primary mode of communication. In short, I don't think it's regional. It depends on the person with whom you need to communicate.
  - jeltz 6y ago
    Yes, and no older people use it here in Sweden. I do not know anyone in Swden who uses voice messages.
  - OJFord 6y ago
    My grandmother has an iPhone and my parents would be baffled if she sent them a voice message. I'm not denying it's helpful/required for accessibility, I'm just talking about 'in general' large scale use of it (or not). Maybe it's less about glasses (if you have to find your glasses to type a message I expect you also need to in order to unlock your phone, open the app, and tap the voice message button) for older people than it is about accustom to IM - the brief chatty format is more like a telephone call than a letter. (But those I've known to use smartphones haven't used voice messages - as distinct from telephone voicemail - anyway, as I said.)
    - hda2 6y ago
      I'm not doubting your (or your sibling's) claims, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine any older person preferring a virtual keyboard to voice messages (provided they are properly introduced to the feature, of course). Maybe this preference stems from how simple telegram (the app we use) makes taking and hearing voice messages? Perhaps it really is a regional thing after all. We need more data. From my anecdotal/regional experience, people over 60 prefer to use voice messages almost exclusively while younger people prefer to text. Maybe someone at telegram or whatsapp can provide statistical data to shed more light on voice message usage.
- trashburger 6y ago
  I have a family member with bad internet reception where she lives. Realtime voice communication usually cuts out, so voice messages are a really good alternative because they are uploaded at once and can be listened to on demand.
- WhyNotHugo 6y ago
  Voice clips are extremely used in South America. I'd say some people even send more voice clips than text messages. Any app lacking them has no chance of gaining traction there. I think it's because we dumped SMS (which has no voice clips) early and moved to WhatsApp (I think it's been the norm for like 8 years now in Argentina).
- ahofmann 6y ago
  Yeah, you're right, it's different. One half does not use voice messages, the other half cannot live without this feature. My peer group is mostly from Germany.
- skocznymroczny 6y ago
  I think it depends on your style of using devices. I am on my PC 99% of times, so I have access to a full-sized keyboard, so I can type longer messages with no issue. But on a phone, typing anything longer than few sentences is a miserable experience, so people prefer to just use voice messages and say what they want to say.
- samoa42 6y ago
  > I have never (deliberately) sent a voice message on any platform same here. really dislike how people essentially just ramble on and on for what could have been one sentece or a few words. so it costs the recipient a lot of time and concentration to get the gist of the message. maybe a cultural thing because my wife and here friends use voice msg a lot.

OJFord 6y ago

> Over half of the people asked me how to send voice messages. This is a very regionally desirable feature, in my experience. I have never (deliberately) sent a voice message on any platform, nor do I know anybody (well/any more) who would. But I went to a university with a high proportion of Chinese students, and it was really striking how much that feature was used (in apps that supported it obviously). I'm just speculating, but I wondered if it was at least partly because of the tonal nature (roughly speaking: four intonations for each vowel, rendering completely different words, not just subtle changes in tone/emphasis) of mandarin, and relatively large number of different characters, making vocal communication more efficient than written; to an even greater extent than that may be true of English, for example. I'm not really sure what I'm saying. Maybe it's not good to burn one market, maybe it is good to focus on excelling in others if (if!) the alternative is mediocrity everywhere, I don't know. Your comment just reminded me and I thought it was vaguely interesting.

hda2 6y ago
Do you message older people? I interact with multiple and they find audio messages to be indispensable. (Who can blame them when recording a voice message is vastly easier than getting your glasses and typing out a message on a small screen with even beady on-screen buttons). In addition to old people, I also message a disabled person to whom speech and recorded messages are her primary mode of communication. In short, I don't think it's regional. It depends on the person with whom you need to communicate.
- jeltz 6y ago
  Yes, and no older people use it here in Sweden. I do not know anyone in Swden who uses voice messages.
- OJFord 6y ago
  My grandmother has an iPhone and my parents would be baffled if she sent them a voice message. I'm not denying it's helpful/required for accessibility, I'm just talking about 'in general' large scale use of it (or not). Maybe it's less about glasses (if you have to find your glasses to type a message I expect you also need to in order to unlock your phone, open the app, and tap the voice message button) for older people than it is about accustom to IM - the brief chatty format is more like a telephone call than a letter. (But those I've known to use smartphones haven't used voice messages - as distinct from telephone voicemail - anyway, as I said.)
  - hda2 6y ago
    I'm not doubting your (or your sibling's) claims, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine any older person preferring a virtual keyboard to voice messages (provided they are properly introduced to the feature, of course). Maybe this preference stems from how simple telegram (the app we use) makes taking and hearing voice messages? Perhaps it really is a regional thing after all. We need more data. From my anecdotal/regional experience, people over 60 prefer to use voice messages almost exclusively while younger people prefer to text. Maybe someone at telegram or whatsapp can provide statistical data to shed more light on voice message usage.
trashburger 6y ago
I have a family member with bad internet reception where she lives. Realtime voice communication usually cuts out, so voice messages are a really good alternative because they are uploaded at once and can be listened to on demand.
WhyNotHugo 6y ago
Voice clips are extremely used in South America. I'd say some people even send more voice clips than text messages. Any app lacking them has no chance of gaining traction there. I think it's because we dumped SMS (which has no voice clips) early and moved to WhatsApp (I think it's been the norm for like 8 years now in Argentina).
ahofmann 6y ago
Yeah, you're right, it's different. One half does not use voice messages, the other half cannot live without this feature. My peer group is mostly from Germany.
skocznymroczny 6y ago
I think it depends on your style of using devices. I am on my PC 99% of times, so I have access to a full-sized keyboard, so I can type longer messages with no issue. But on a phone, typing anything longer than few sentences is a miserable experience, so people prefer to just use voice messages and say what they want to say.
samoa42 6y ago
> I have never (deliberately) sent a voice message on any platform same here. really dislike how people essentially just ramble on and on for what could have been one sentece or a few words. so it costs the recipient a lot of time and concentration to get the gist of the message. maybe a cultural thing because my wife and here friends use voice msg a lot.