Librarian Phil's Tech Tips
November 15th
Messaging Apps

As there is a growing number of messaging apps I find that more and more people are confused about which one is which and where they are receiving messages.  Now there are too many for me to cover, but I am going to try and give you the basics and explain what each one is and what they are used for.
 
  • Text Messages: All phones including "dumb" phones have text messaging apps.  It has been around since the 90s and it is a system that allows you to send a text based message using your phone signal.  It was originally limited to 160 characters and was meant for short quick messages.  Without a phone number and a cellphone plan you cannot send a text message. (There are some exceptions to this rule)  These apps tend to look like plain comic text bubbles and are usually colored green or blue.
  • Email: Has been around since the invention of the early days of the internet.  Similar to a paper letter you can send a long message to someone's electronic mail address(aka email).  This system uses the internet to send the message, which allows for longer messages and sending small files to each other.  These app icons tend to look like paper envelopes.
  • Social Media: In the late 90s social media started taking off and allowed for people to not only make social media posts, but also included a direct messaging system(Some people call this DM for short).  This mostly replaced chat rooms and instant messenger websites.  It was a quick and convenient way of having a conversation with someone online via text.  Some of these apps are also shaped like the text message apps, so this is very confusing for people.  Social media messaging apps usually have something in the text bubble to distinguish them though.  For instance Facebook Messenger has a lightening bolt inside a blue text bubble.
  • Messaging Apps: Messaging apps like Whatsapp and Signal are meant as a replacement for text messaging.  Unlike a traditional text message, messaging apps use the internet, which means you don't need a phone number or cell phone plan to use them.  They can also be accessed through multiple devices like a computer, tablet or a cellphone.  Another benefit of this type of communications system is that it typically allows you to send files and pictures at high quality like an email, and many of these systems have privacy measures built in which is not always true of text messages or email.  These apps also look like comic text bubbles making it confusing.  Similar to social media messaging apps these tend to add extra designs or images to distinguish them from a normal text messaging app.
Long story short, while most of these systems do the same sort of thing they are meant for different purposes.  Even with that said many people prefer different methods, so you may have many or all of these communications on your phone.  For instance my friends only use Signal to chat, but my family uses text messaging, and my acquaintances tend to use email.  I realize after writing all of this that some people may still be confused, and I don't blame you.  If you are confused give me a call and we can work through it in person.
 
Until Next Time,
Librarian Phil Schneider
pschneider@gailborden.info
847-608-5226
Gail Borden Public Library District

Main Library - 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 - 847-742-2411
Rakow Branch - 2751 W. Bowes Rd., Elgin, IL 60124 - 847-531-7271
South Elgin Branch - 127 S. Mclean Blvd., South Elgin, IL 60177 - 847-931-2090
http://www.gailborden.info/
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