{"id":14633,"date":"2011-03-21T21:28:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T19:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=14633"},"modified":"2011-03-21T21:28:02","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T19:28:02","slug":"group-messaging-is-the-next-big-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/21\/group-messaging-is-the-next-big-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Group messaging is the next big thing"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/downloadsquad.switched.com\/\">Download Squad<\/a> suggests that <a href=\"http:\/\/downloadsquad.switched.com\/2011\/03\/21\/group-messaging-the-next-big-thing\/\">group messaging is going to be the next big thing<\/a> in mobile communications:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The\u00a0<em>next big thing<\/em> in mobile communications seems to be group messaging, and that&#8217;s no real surprise. If we take a look at the currently entrenched communication platforms, not many of them do more than messaging one-to-one or one-to-a-few well. Sure you can have group chats using traditional IM protocols, but they are inherently transitory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have to agree with them somewhat. \u00a0I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s necessarily going to be the next big thing or if it will be big at all, but it is something that is needed. Today. \u00a0By many people.<\/p>\n<p>Living in Cyprus, a rather small country with not many ties to technology, I am often much behind the needs of my friends from more populated areas. \u00a0There is usually a three to five year gap between the time when my American and English friends form a new communication need, and the time when I do so. \u00a0And more often than not, this gap is enough for a good solution to the problem exist before I even have the actual problem.<\/p>\n<p>With group messaging it is different. \u00a0At least in the last part. \u00a0I need it now. \u00a0Yesterday even. \u00a0And there is nothing uniform, free, and convenient. \u00a0Email and Skype are the two tools I use for those purposes the most right now. \u00a0But neither of them, no together, they solve the problem. \u00a0 They are good enough for when I am (as well as other group members) are online and at their computers. \u00a0But more and more often we really need a solution that bridges mobiles and desktops.<\/p>\n<p>Features that I personally need are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>cross-platform client (Linux\/Windows\/Apple desktop, Android\/iPhone\/Blackberry mobiles, and also web)<\/li>\n<li>server-side history with synchronization<\/li>\n<li>offline messages (if the participant is offline, you should still be able to send the message and he should receive it when he comes online)<\/li>\n<li>persistent groups (I don&#8217;t want to redefine same groups over and over by adding individual members to chat)<\/li>\n<li>persistent chats (same chat can continue for days or weeks, while there can be more than one chat in progress with the same group, so archiving has to be smart)<\/li>\n<li>UTF-8 and multilingual support<\/li>\n<li>attachments and web friendliness (thumbnails for pictures and videos, highlighted URLs and email addresses, etc)<\/li>\n<li>basic styling (mostly for quotes and code snippets)<\/li>\n<li>ideally, integration with Google\/Facebook\/Twitter\/Oauth or something else that would save me the trouble of yet another registration, pair of credentials, and all the hard work for contact\/group building.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>Download Squad suggests that group messaging is going to be the next big thing in mobile communications: The\u00a0next big thing in mobile communications seems to be group messaging, and that&#8217;s no real surprise. If we take a look at the currently entrenched communication platforms, not many of them do more than messaging one-to-one or one-to-a-few &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/21\/group-messaging-is-the-next-big-thing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Group messaging is the next big thing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,62],"tags":[90,2295,1079],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-14633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-technology","tag-communications","tag-instant-messaging","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18193,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/21\/exclusive-inside-hangouts-googles-big-fix-for-its-messaging-mess\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":0},"title":"Exclusive: Inside Hangouts, Google&#8217;s big fix for its messaging mess","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"May 21, 2013","format":"link","excerpt":"Exclusive: Inside Hangouts, Google's big fix for its messaging mess How Google built its new messaging platform for Gmail, Android, iOS, and Chrome... and what took so long","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24300,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/04\/twilio-apis-for-text-messaging-voip-voice-in-the-cloud\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":1},"title":"Twilio &#8211; APIs for Text Messaging, VoIP &#038; Voice in the Cloud","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 4, 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Twilio - APIs for Text Messaging, VoIP & Voice in the Cloud.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22327,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/08\/04\/tox-secure-instant-messaging-video-conferencing-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":2},"title":"Tox &#8211; secure instant messaging, video conferencing, and more","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"August 4, 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"Tox - secure instant messaging, video conferencing, and more. With the rise of government monitoring programs, Tox provides an easy to use application that allows you to connect with friends and family without anyone else listening in. While other big-name services require you to pay for features, Tox is totally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"tox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tox-500x433.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21772,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/08\/kiwichat-co-group-chats-of-people-nearby\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":3},"title":"kiwichat.co &#8211; group chats of people nearby","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"May 8, 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"kiwichat.co - group chats of people nearby","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22007,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/06\/18\/komanda-irc-for-people-who-write-code\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":4},"title":"komanda &#8211; IRC for people who write code","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 18, 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"komanda - IRC for people who write code","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"komanda-ss-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/komanda-ss-2-500x320.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21689,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/24\/whatsapp-passes-500000000-active-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":14633,"position":5},"title":"WhatsApp passes 500,000,000 active users","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"According to the WhatsApp blog: Thanks to all of you, half a billion people around the world are now regular, active WhatsApp users. 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