THE AVION
B6 Technology
UX Corner
Jacob and Nick are graduate students in the Research in User eXperience (RUX) Lab in the Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology. RUX investigates the usability and user experience of technology in our everyday world. This is a regular column that explores different technologies typically used by Embry-Riddle students.
iMessage, SMS, WhatsApp, or GroupMe: LOL or OMG? Jacob Guliuzo and Nicholas Reuss Graduate Researchers How often do you use your phone to text? What service do you use to send messages? GroupMe? iMessage? Standard text messages? WhatsApp? In a recent survey of over 100 ERAU students, we found that over 90% of students reported that they used their messaging service daily. About 70% of students were Apple users while 30% were Android users. We asked what apps students used of the following options: GroupMe, iMessage, standard text messages (more formally known as Short Message Service, or “SMS”), WhatsApp, or Other. Of the 97 respondents, 80% of students used their default messaging app as their preferred app while 20% of students preferred a third party app such as GroupMe or WhatsApp. We also asked what features were the most important, and students said that responding directly to users and sending messages over WiFi were the highest priorities. There were also features that students said were not important such as adding and removing group members and muting conversations.
Image Courtesy: Jacob Guliuzo
said “I use GroupMe for group projects, WhatsApp for planning activities with friends as well as to talk to friends. I use iMessage because it’s the default app, and to talk over WiFi with other people because I have an iPhone.” Another reason for using apps other than the standard messaging app is for group chat. One student stated that “Using default messaging group chats with both Apple and Android users are difficult because they do not communicate properly; they do not allow people to leave the chat and don’t allow for people to be added to the chat either.”
A “Perfect” Messaging App? While discussing what the “perfect messaging app” would be, there was a lot of debate. The information we gathered from the survey told us that some features are necessary and others are just extra and not required. In general, most features appear to be second to how well the app works overall. One reason why some focus group members preferred WhatsApp over the other apps was because it integrated many of the most desirable features from both Apple and Android. It makes it easy to interact with Apple and Android users without losing out on access
Image Courtesy: Jacob Guliuzo
A break-down of the different messaging apps used by ERAU students (n = 97).
Understanding Why After gathering survey responses, we conducted an internal focus group to help shed light on what features and motivations contribute to the decision as to what messaging app is used. A focus group is a guided discussion among a group of people about a particular topic. The focus group members, like the survey respondents, preferred to use their default messaging service over a third party app. However, they all used other messaging apps on their phones for different purposes, other than messaging. Third-party apps, such as WhatsApp, GroupMe, or Facebook messenger were used for a variety of reasons. One member
to any of the features. Some features were noted to not be necessary, but fun. Examples of this would be for iMessage sending messages with lasers or fireworks, sending emojis with messages, and customizing the chats themselves with wallpapers and icons. Conclusion Overall, students use many different messaging apps for many different reasons. Although most prefer the default app on their phone, they have reasons for using other apps as well. This could be as simple as “It’s what my friends use,” or because “I needed it for a group project.” Regardless of the reason(s), there isn’t a single messaging app that can do everything everyone wants it to do. Until there is an app that can, students will continue to communicate with multiple apps. If you would like to suggest a device or technology for us to evaluate for this column then please use the QR code to make a suggestion.
Image Courtesy: Nicholas Reuss
Messages sent with lasers and fireworks through iMessage on an Apple device.