There was a time, a time before smartphones, a time before one device ruled us all, a time when bizarre things like iPods, point and shoot cameras and phones that could only call and text existed. That was a far simpler time, when each gadget had a specific purpose, an aim in life, a dedicated reason to exist.
Then something called the smartphone entered our lives and rendered everything before it obsolete. The poor iPods, Cybershots and Nokia 3310 of the world had to step down in disdain, reduced to mere shells of their former glory. Forever set to rust in an old drawer somewhere.
Why am I talking about the death of dedicated devices in an article about messaging/social media applications? Because there couldn't be a better analogy for what is happening to apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat these days.
A little while ago, things were considerably simple. WhatsApp was used to text people, Facebook Messenger to have a conversation with your FB friends whose mobile number you might not necessarily have, Instagram to share your heavily filtered (read ugly) photos and Snapchat for basically annoying everyone you know. Add to that also your video chatting applications like Skype and Apple's Facetime.
Every application has started stealing features from each other resulting in a situation where no individuality is left and every app has become just a twisted version of the other.
Little by little, every application has started stealing features from each other resulting in a situation where no individuality is left and every app has become just a twisted version of the other. This is Bubblegum Syndrome at its best!
Eventually, every application introduced voice-calling capabilities, video chatting, filters, hashtag support and so on and so forth. This was the time I started realising the fact that there were 6 social media applications on my smartphone which all did exactly the same thing.
The worst offender in my opinion was Snapchat. The application's concept of text laden pictures/short videos became so popular, that every application now wanted a piece of that rather infuriating pie. Instagram introduced Instagram stories, Facebook introduced a feature which allowed filters and text to be introduced in pictures and short videos and now WhatsApp, which was the only haven left, has also introduced a version of the same.
WhatsApp has rolled out its new Status feature that allows users to upload photos and videos for their contacts to see, instead of the simple text-based status message which existed earlier.
Now you can go the status section in WhatsApp and gaze merrily at what calorie ridden dessert your friend who you have not seen for 5 years had for lunch or where your rather crazy Aunt has gone for vacation.
What was wrong with the old status feature? How will a user communicate to the hordes out there that he is busy and doesn't want to receive messages/calls?
Why does every messaging app have to have the ability to make calls, video chat, send photos, send annoying videos, set up photos and videos as statuses, broadcast to the world what you're doing and also be a social media network?
A separate application for texting people, a separate one for video chatting and a separate social media network - that is all one needs. Oh, you can also talk to people face to face, but that is a very rare option nowadays, so forget I said that.
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