Quo vadis, Messenger? What does the future hold?

Messenger are becoming even more important in all of our lives. These changes could happen in the next few years.

The flood of news increases

Every kind of messenger has become an indispensable part of our lives. Germans receive around 13 short messages per day – such a survey by Bitkom Research . For a quarter of those surveyed, 20 or more messages trickle over every day WhatsApp , Telegram and the like.

If you look at the global market, the numbers are even more impressive: Be alone via WhatsApp 100 billion messages sent worldwide – per day! Trend: increasing.

It can be assumed that messengers will anchor themselves even more deeply in all of our lives. Because manufacturers regularly upgrade their applications with new functions. This ensures an increasing use.

WeChat as a model for WhatsApp and Co.

If you want to know where Threema, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram or Facebook Messenger could develop, you don’t have to own a crystal ball. Instead, just take a look at China. Messenger No. 1 is called WeChat.

WeChat has over 1.2 billion monthly users, around 80 percent of the Chinese use the app. The Messenger from Tencent is also popular in other countries such as India or Indonesia.

This is not surprising, because WeChat offers numerous useful functions: For example, you can use it to order taxis, make contactless payments in restaurants and street shops, submit reviews, book appointments, play games, search for electric filling stations and find love.

In short: the Chinese messenger is a real jack-of-all-trades. It scores with features that its western counterparts still do not offer. With WeChat, it is therefore easy to see where the messenger market will develop overall.

What will messengers be able to do in the future?

Here is an overview of what WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and many other competitors could offer in the coming years:

Mobile shopping

Quickly selected a new evening dress – click, bought. A big pizza for the whole family – click, bought. A spontaneous vacation in the mountains – click, bought.

Messenger will merge with online shops in the future. The selection, the advice and the purchase are faster and less complicated than today, as the processes are fully optimized for the brisk shopping experience in the subway, on the bus or for a break on the couch.

Messenger payment

Pay for coffee in the café around the corner via WhatsApp; or make a money transfer via Facebook Messenger: What still seems a bit strange today could soon be completely normal in this country too.

China is showing the way: Paying via WeChat Pay is part of everyday life here. Messenger is even used to pay at soup kitchens and street vendors.

Social networks

Vacation pictures, funny videos and more: Messenger are the social networks of tomorrow. What Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat offer today will be implemented directly in the messengers in a few years. The basic functions are already included in WhatsApp, Telegram and the like.

Limitless exchange

Mails will also be given in the future. But the borders to the messengers disappear, both types of communication merge: You can then chat by email and email by chat.

This is not a new idea either. In collaboration tools like Slack, plug-ins have been used for years to bring mail and chat together.

Data storage

Speaking of collaboration: Would you like to briefly send a presentation to a colleague? In the future, simply use a messenger that offers cloud storage. Large amounts of data can be easily exchanged via this.

Video conferencing

The subject of “video telephony” will also become more important. Why start a zoom call when it is more convenient to use WhatsApp? And why open GoToMeeting when you’re already in Telegram chats?

Gaming

Candy crush saga, quiz duels, clash of clans … Mobile gaming has been trendy for many years. It can be assumed that messengers could establish themselves as platforms for “gamers”. The multiplayer games, in which several people compete against each other, should be particularly popular.

news

How did your favorite football club play? What new decisions has the government decided? How will the weather be tomorrow? You can already have messages sent to you via Messenger or you can subscribe to the relevant news streams.

Certainly, the media offers will be integrated more deeply into the messenger in the near future, so that you can get to the information you want even more easily.

New forms of advertising

When people increasingly deal with messengers, it makes them attractive for companies and advertisers. Advertising banners, video clip interrupters, sponsored news: there are already numerous concepts. Which of these will prevail can be seen, among other things, in what messenger users consider acceptable.

Digital assistants

Chatbots are already doing many routine tasks. Thanks to the rapid advances in AI (artificial intelligence) development, messenger bots are likely to become the new Siris and Alexas – digital assistants that make everyday life easier for us.

Dating

If messengers continue to gain acceptance, they will collect large amounts of data that reveal a lot about each individual user. Such information can be used to create automated profiles for dating applications.

The algorithms then only have to ensure that the two people who are a perfect match are networked with one another. Child’s play for a messenger!

Messenger become gatekeepers

Shopping, data exchange, dating, games or mobile payment: none of these are new inventions, they have been around for many years. But with the increasing use of messengers, the platforms and with them the accesses are shifting.

WeChat already has a kind of app store. This creates a new eco-cosmos. One in which online shops, search engines and app stores lose importance because the messenger is then the preferred access to the services and applications. They will be – technically speaking – the new gatekeepers.

What’s the point of all this?

Media disruptions are disappearing, making processes faster and easier for consumers. Just think about payment: In online shops you pay by credit card or PayPal, in stores with EC card or cash. In the future, all of this may no longer be needed, as there is only one Standard payment method: via Messenger.

For you as an entrepreneur, this means: watch the changes carefully! Be ready when you need to adapt your online shop to use Messenger. Or if the customers in your shop prefer to pay by WeChat instead of with an EC card.

Images: Freepik, Statista