Instant messaging tools enable real-time text communication across teams and organizations using internet-based apps rather than cellular networks. This content covers four widely used platforms — Google Chat, Slack, Discord, and Microsoft Teams — and how each one handles direct messages and group conversations.
Instant Messaging for Teams
When we're collaborating as a team, there are times when I want to instantly communicate with the team. I want to type out something and just hit enter for them to get it. We call it instant messaging. It's kind of like text messaging on your phone, although that uses the cellular system. What we're talking about is some sort of app, some sort of client that you can use to send messages through the data system, through the internet, throughout the company, throughout a team, through other people.
The first example that we're going to take a look at is going to be through our Gmail account, or through Google. Up here in the right hand corner is where we have access to all of our other apps. What we'll do is go to this chat, and within chat it's going to take a second to bring up, and I haven't accessed it before, so there might be a little bit of setup that I have to do here. So it's going through that process.
Here's what it looks like once we get it up and running. If I wanted to chat with somebody, I could connect with them, or I could come up here and say new chat and I could add somebody to this. Or I could create a space where many people can come and chat. Each one of these instant messaging apps has a little different name for this; this one is space, so that's the group of people, and you can create a space that a group of people can chat with. So this is Google Chat.
Let's take a look at another one here. This is Slack right here, and I've got Slack set up. It's something very similar: instead of spaces, you've got channels, and these are groups of people that I can talk with. Then down here is direct message, if I want to direct message somebody.
I can go into a channel here. Let's go into a channel and just say hi, and then anybody, no one's on this channel at this point, but anybody that was on this channel then would be able to see that. So that is an example of Slack and what Slack looks like.
Another one that's really popular is Discord. A lot of gamers will use this, so this is another place that you can go and instant message people.
One last one that we'll look at is Teams. Teams is something that a lot of businesses will use. It's got some chat here, so if I want to start a new chat I could create a new chat and then chat with somebody, have to invite people into this or create a group for them. I don't have a lot set up in here right now, but essentially it's the same thing: I type out a message to the people here and then hit enter, and then whoever I put in here as the recipient, I would be chatting with them.
There are a lot of different chat programs, and I find it kind of funny how many people are really super passionate about their chat program, that they are not willing to use anybody else's chat program, but it's got to be their chat program. It just is that they've gotten used to that tool and they don't want to use anybody else's tool. I find a lot of Slack users are that way. Discord I find can be that way as well. So people get kind of stuck on whatever tool set they want to use, even though largely they all pretty much have the same features.
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