Facebook only player to provide continuous conversation
Tablets, phones, laptops, desktops...if you're like me, you are switching constantly between these devices.
You start a conversation with someone on the home desktop, message them from your phone on the commute to work, chat with them on your cubicle laptop, and say good night from your tablet while lying on the sofa. What program are you using for this conversation? Skype? Facebook? WhatsApp? Kik? Line? iMessage? SMS? Too much!
It's as if we've come back to the time of AOL Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Microsoft Messenger, and ICQ all trying to be your communication channel. How do you keep track of which conversation is with whom and where?
The ability to have continuous conversations from any device is why I think Facebook Messaging is the current market leader. Whether it's on a mobile device or computer, e-mail, SMS, or instant message, your content is getting to the recipient.
Conversations are searchable, and there's a history of all your communication and in one thread regardless of the device you're using.
Skype comes close but doesn't have as many options and also isn't as easy to use. Line is a contender in terms of being able to message from a laptop or mobile device into the same conversation, but it limits you to only one mobile device. WhatsApp, for all its popularity, is little more than glorified MMS. iMessage requires you to be in Apple's walled garden, and SMS...well, that costs money for every use.
Is Facebook leading the way for messaging? Your choice of messaging, your choice of device.