Top Messaging Platforms In This Part Of The World

While we never gave it so much thought, messaging platforms are like masked heroes. They have always been there for us and we have never thought it won’t be. It never used to be like this. To contact people, you have to go down to their houses, write them letters, or send people to them. Now, we need either airtime or data to send messages across. Before technology became advanced, we had SMS  and MMS, interesting times!

Now, not only do we use these messaging platforms for personal use, Businesses, Organisations reaching their customers and clients has been made easier.

 

For individuals

WhatsApp Messenger

WhatsApp, also known as the green app is one of the most popular message platforms in the world. Isn’t it amazing how one app can be so popular that it has about two billion active users across the globe? I know it is.

The birthing of WhatsApp came as a result of two men, Brian Acton and Jan Koum coming together in 2004 to develop this masterpiece. They finally sold it to Facebook Inc. for $19 billion in 2014. From there, Mark Zuckerberg became the head.

Whatsapp has so many interesting features which include;

• Chat option for individuals, groups, and community.
• Video and voice call (This includes one-on-one and group).
• Status updates for sharing your moments with people.

The way the green app works

Only the saved contacts on your device or whoever you choose among them can view your status updates.

Anyone with WhatsApp on their device can message you.

You can create a group with saved contacts on your device

WhatsApp community, a newly rolled out feature is like a group containing groups.

Facebook

While this app works best for product owners or service providers, it can also double as an instant messaging tool for people. This app is owned by Facebook Inc. Some of the features of this app include:

• Chat option.
• Video and Voice call.
• Facebook stories for moments sharing.
• Live chat.
• Lead generation via campaign, etc.

Telegram

This platform is well-known for its cloud-based service. Be it individual chat or group chat, no matter the time you join, you can be rest assured to see all the previous messages.

Features

• Cloud storage.
• It can accommodate more participants in a group.
• Video and voice call.
• It is compatible with bots.
• The interface is easily customizable.
• Great file sharing tool (It can share up to a 1.5GB file).

 

For Businesses and Organizations

 

WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp Business works just like Whatsapp Messenger bit with more advanced modifications. While WhatsApp Messenger equals the consumer side of a business, WhatsApp Business is the business owner’s side.

• Business Profile.
• Labels for easy identification of customers’ tags.
• Automated messages.
• Catalog to showcase products.
• Facebook shop integration.
• WhatsApp payments.
• WhatsApp business directory

Slack

This platform is owned by Salesforce and was designed by Slack technologies.

Features

• Easier tagging of members.
• It allows as many as possible workspaces. Switching between workspaces is easy.
• Channels for easy access to information.

Discord

If you are into Web3, you would have heard so much about Discord. Thanks to Stanislav Vishnevsky who came together with Jason Citron, we have Discord today. It is a multipurpose message platform for uniting teams and gamers.

Features

• Voice chat.
• Servers, also known as communities. Just like channels in Telegram, here, we have public and private servers.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft teams is owned by Microsoft and it was launched as part of Office 365 in 2016. It is a great messaging tool among teams.

Features

• It has powerful integration options with Microsoft Office.

Seamless file sharing (Up to 2GB per user).

• It is compatible with bots.
• Great video calls.
• It has channels too.

 

Google chat

Proudly owned by Google, this platform was originally designed for businesses. Now, anybody can use it. Just like every other messaging platforms for businesses, it is a great tool for file sharing.

Features

• It can share high resolution images without them losing their quality.
• Larger video chat capacity.
• Google Meet integration.

 

Some of these apps can work fine for one-on-one or group chat, although for groups, there could be limitation as to the number of members it can take in.

To know which one works best for you or your organization, ensure to check the features of each app to familiarize yourself with them.