Is instant messaging dying in the smartphone & Facebook era?

[Nimrod]

Just wondering peoples view points regarding Instant Messaging and its relevance in the Facebook Era.

Have you found with Smartphones, Facebook and unlimited texts that your using the Traditional Instant Messaging far less than you use to? Do you walk about and ask people for there 'MSN' or there 'AIM' anymore or is it just about adding them to Facebook?

I say this because ever since I've had my Smartphone with WhatsApp, Facebook and SMS I find I'm not using IM as much, Infact I think I could delete 90% of my contacts as I only really talk to the same 5 people day in day out. Also over the past 6 months I've managed to cut my contact list in half as I just delete people I no longer talk to.

Now my biggest question is, is this just me, or are others finding a similar situation?

 

[seanpr92]

i used to use msn quite alot but now i only go on it like once every 3 months lol because facebook is alot easier to contact people by ect

 

[AntiNaz]

Am I in that 5 people you talk to list?

 

[InsaneNutter]

I think Instant Messaging was the big thing of the 2000's, Now in the 2010's everyone appears to be Facebook mad.

A fair few people on my MSN contact list rarely go on it anymore, Its no where near like it used to be. I use Trillian and just leave MSN signed in on my phone, its easy to message people when im out then and its nice to be able to use a keyboard when i'm at home.

As for WhatsApp I have honestly never heard of it till now. I have heard of PingChat, LiveProfile and Blackberry Messenger, stuff like that which is for mobiles only appears to becoming more popular now. That could be the new Instant Messaging of the future.

 

[MasterChief]

I think a lot of people still use Instant Messaging, just on Facebook instead. It's just a shame Facebook chat sucks, as a lot of people appear to prefer that to AIM.

 

[Deleted member 14461]

i would say yes alot because i used to have like 9 friends on at once in windows live messenger ( I only had 20 contacts) now theres sometime not even one i think its a shame because i used to love to go on messenger and chat with friends and it had all the other stuff on it like games vid chat voice chat, but more people are switching to facebook chat...

 

[Rubberj]

I hadn't given it any thought until I read this post but yeah, I haven't touched MSN for ages.

Its all txting and Facebook... oh well another app I can delete off my Windows Pee Cee

 

[Phwoar]

I still use MSN daily although to be fair I had stopped a little bit until reasons which made me use MSN again everyday!

However I do have it signed in on my phone all the time anyway (when it works ) but I am a very facebooky person. But don't think it's dying though tonnes of folk still use instant messaging just times are always going to move on and new things are always going to come out

 

[Skeven]

I've got my Facebook chat hooked through AIM (so it goes to my mobile when away). Other than that I could probably drop off of MSN with very few lost chat buddies.

Edit: If MSN was a little more mobile friendly, I'd probably use it more often -- I typically prefer people's AIM over anything just because when I wander off, I can be certain the texts will get to my cell where MSN & etc only seems to work 10% of the time.

 

[Dark Scyth]

D: So you did remove me Nimrod (I think). Since my laptop is still down from unknown charging issues I definitely don't use IM as much. Though I use MSN when i'm on the 360. IM'ing, for me anyways, has usually been for talking to people I met online. When it comes to people I know in real life it's usually been facebook or texting. When it comes to them using an IM like program it's always been Skype. They missed the whole beginning IM era I suppose.

 

[slimwadey]

Never used it .. never miss it ... SMS or Phone for me. but i'm not really a chatty person, i get bored even typi..

 

[InsaneNutter]

It’s strange looking back at my reply to this old thread almost a decade later, especially as it would appear I had no idea WhatsApp existed at the time…

Needless to say IM as it was back then doesn’t exist anymore. MSN, Yahoo and AIM are all long since gone, although strangely enough ICQ is still going strong, despite been really niche even 10 years ago.

WhatsApp since became my mobile messaging app of choice and is pretty much the dominant mobile messaging platform in the UK. Facebook Messenger is also popular for various group chats I’m in. The desktop experience for both of these is certainly lacking compared to MSN and other past IM clients.

I also started using Discord more recently for some online forums / gaming related things. For people you might meet on your internet travels Discord seems to have become the messaging client of choice.

I wonder how things will be in another 10 years!