Staying In Touch: We Test-drove Four Alternatives to Regular Texting
I’ve met a lot of people in my collegiate career. Some are from this country and some aren’t. In that time, I’ve been introduced to a number of online social networking apps as a means of staying in touch.
With the number of apps out now-a-days, it’s hard to figure out which to use. Here are four apps I test drove and their rating out of five (five being the best):
LINE
What spawned out of the Japan tsunami disasters in 2011 is a smart social network app this does a little bit of everything. LINE satisfies all online social networking needs including a timeline and homepage similar to Facebook. With over 50 million users since its birth in March 2011, LINE also has a few extras like a custom camera app and games. These must be downloaded as well, but are free.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Viber
Viber is another app that is useable on any device. Viber has the same group chat, photo uploading and location sharing capabilities as WhatsApp, but with a more user friendly interface. Viber also has a “smart notification” feature. This gives you the option of turning on or off whenever you get an updated group chat message.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
With an emphasis on meeting new people, WeChat offers most of the same features as the rest of the online social networking apps above. WeChat separates itself from the rest with features that help you find others that are using the app. The “Look Around” feature lets you see within how many miles another WeChat user is of you. It also uses something called, “Drift Bottle.” This takes you to an ocean scenery where you can pick out random voice messages from bottles in the ocean. You can either chose to reply to the message or throw it back and get a new one.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
This app is an alternative to basic SMS messaging. It works on every major platform and allows you to send messages through the app for free. It also has group chat capabilities, allows you upload and share photos and set your location. This app will automatically link you to every contact that uses WhatsApp on your phone when you download it. This app is useful because of the large number of people in the WhatsApp network. It’s free on most platforms, but cost $0.99 to download from the Apple store.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
In all actuality, I found that most social networking apps are only marginally better or worse than others. WhatsApp is the most useful because of how many other people use it.
Category: Other
