MSN Messenger, The Long Lost, Perfect Social Network

Recently, I've been making my small attempts to migrate friends and family to Google's new messaging platform, Hangouts. As a slight Google fatboy, it was music to my ears when my girlfriend exclaimed that it was "like having MSN [Messenger] back, but better." It's damn good: where WhatsApp is trapped on mobiles, Hangouts is cross device; where Facetime and iMessage are trapped on Apple products, Hangouts is cross platform; and where Facebook Messenger lags and the Android app acts clunky, Hangouts works smoothly and the Google cloud never fails to deliver a message on time. All this considered, I still can't agree with my girlfriend. To me, MSN Messenger is the long lost, perfect social network.

No seriously, it was just like a social network!

Some justification to go with the statement. Firstly, MSN Messenger felt closely knit to just those closest to you who you messaged often. Being a messaging platform first, it meant that interactions on the network were completely focused on talking to each other (you know, like, socialising.) But it was a social network. It had status messages, an earlier version of posting publicly. It could replace this status with the music you were playing, an early version of the frictionless sharing that Facebook still can't quite get right. It even let you keep records of all conversations, something we only just started reintroducing in messaging services. Throw in file sharing, a crazy load of emoticons, plugins and extensions and you've got a service that was way ahead of it's time, and for many reasons can't work on today's internet.

What happened? Who killed IM?

Over the years though, being social online moved slowly away from messaging, and gradually into a more "profile" based service. MySpace and Facebook delivered their service with the online profile in mind, as opposed to the actual talking to each other. Sharing was posting to a wall, for everyone to see. Having a presence was customizing your profile (even down to HTML on MySpace), adding movies and music you liked. The most important thing started to be you, and what people saw of you, rather than the conversations you were actually having with your friends. Chat moved into a sidebar.

The photos came along too. As Justin Timberlake said perfectly in the character of Sean Parker in The Social Network, we would come to re-live parties and other social events online, after they happened, and remember them forever. This is arguably the most important feature of modern social networking. Sharing pictures and memories. Messaging alone can't really deliver this service, it's an offshoot of the profile based social network. Your profile is not only where you house likes and interests, but the pictures you're tagged in.

Can we get MSN Messenger back?

I'd love for online networking to go back to something more similar to the days of MSN Messenger. Conversations were constant, and private. Group chats were easy to pull up, and sharing was simple. It was not about sharing everything with everyone.

This is where I really hold out for Hangouts. Google+ is the social network that's really built for all these services, more than any other. Sharing is much more easily managed with each and every post, messaging is integrated effectively across all major platforms and devices, and photos have never been better or easier. The new photos experience on Google+ auto-uploads your shots to it's backup service, curates hundreds of snaps, picking the best, auto-tunes these up, it even creates some animations and panoramas, and then gives you an album for review that can easily be shared with whomever you wish.

The only thing missing to bring the old MSN experience, is the crowd. While Google+ is still great for finding great content and networking with people across the web around your own interest and passions, even with Hangouts it still doesn't live up to the days of MSN Messenger.

TL;DR I'm going to blog much more this summer

It's 8:21pm, Monday the 27th of May, and I have decided I should blog more.

Back in college I had an Economics tutor who beat my brain into a religious discipline for good writing. We would write essays upon essays until we deeply appreciated the need to construct careful arguments, divide points neatly and in discussion with one another, tell a story with these points, and conclude with strong summaries. I miss the days I could whack open a test paper, read a daring statement, and generate pages and pages of academic evaluation. I miss college and university in this way.

"Discuss the difficulties of controlling inflation."

"Should the main macroeconomic aim of the government be full employment."

"Evaluate the benefits and costs of economic growth".

Nowadays, I can't even begin to answer these questions. That doesn't bother me, as knowledge fades and changes. What does bother me is that I can't replicate the integrity and detail that I approached these questions with, even when the topic at hand is something I have so much knowledge and opinion about.

With repeated practice, however, habits can be built. With real determination then, habits turn into talent. I'd really like to write better than I do today. I read so many great articles online by talented bloggers, especially since Google+ took off in a big way and drew a lot more content towards me. I read these bits and pieces and would love to challenge some of the opinions in them, but since University my writing has been out of shape. It's become sluggish without regular exercise. I can't only blame my work for this, but having less time is certainly a part of it. But I accept that it's on me to improve and develop skills that I want.

Merely writing this short realisation down on Blogger would not hold me to my conviction. I should quantify my success, know my KPIs (key performance indicators), and prepare my OKRs (objectives and key results).

For the first time ever, I will blog with the intent of growing an audience. I never liked the idea of it before, but it would act as a clear indication that my writing was improving, if my readers grew steadily. Secondly, quantity; I will aim to post informed and relevant content thrice a week. Probably 2 at weekends, and 1 during the week, reflective of when I have most free time.

So that's my summer challenge. I can't wait to get started, so I better get started and go hunting for my first topic.

HTC vs. Samsung

It feels like this battle may be coming to an end. With executives and engineers alike fleeing HTC, the One not meeting expectations, and the First also selling less that desirable, I'm sad to say a competent and respectable OEM may be on the way out of the mobile handset market.

As the owner of a Galaxy S3, I blame myself. At the time I was new to Android, and the marketing was all too much to bare. But as a tech enthusiast, I should have researched further, and harder. I wish I could say now that I had stood behind a great hardware manufacturer, instead of living in a Touchwiz world of plastic.

I'd like to get a conversation going about HTC, and whether they will be missed? I think I will. It's a great company for Android to have on it's team, for all those Apple fanboys who claim no-one makes hardware like the iPhone. While it may be true, HTC came pretty darn close, and a lot closer than Samsung ever have, and I believe ever will. Or am I calling this in too soon? Is there room for success yet?

Phone networks should drop minutes and texts, and just sell data.

Not long ago I was called by a sales rep of my mobile network provider (Three Ireland). Being a support centre worker myself, and being blissfully relaxed in weekend sun at the time, I decided to go easy on this chap and actual take his call and hear his pitch. To my genuine surprise, there was nothing valuable he had available for me.

The problem was that he had good plans designed to fit two users: those who want minutes, and those that want messages. He asked me which I was, and seemed disappointed to hear that I was neither. It dawned on me here that what I actually wanted wasn't a data focused plan; ideally I want a data only plan.

It's basically how I use my phone anyway. Most phone calls that I make are to Three, in order to check my balance and top up (I never got the hang of the text service). Who phones people these days, unless it's an absolute emergency? If I actually want to have a conversation with someone, rather than a text based chat, I'll video call them on Hangouts or ring them on FaceTime, and I'll do this through the comfort of WiFi. I'd love to have a mobile that I'd be happy to use as a phone, but the idea that my network provider is counting the minutes I use just seems nuts to me. Even when they are free, doesn't it seem weird? Imagine if you had a 1000 minute limit for FaceTime, or a 1000 message limit on Facebook Messenger. Even without charge, it doesn't seem like a good deal. SMS is a rip off, even in big bundles, and it's why WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage and recently Hangouts enjoy so much of our texting. Although not as poor as SMS, voice calling is also a poor service by carriers, and it's on the way out. Data only please.

The problem for carriers is that they were never going to win in the long run with these services. Internet giants and social network sites are much better placed to build the communication services themselves, where the network companies have to be the ones providing the network. Makes sense.

This is why I think we are very close to a time when we move over to data only plans. My prediction is that in less than 2 years we will see the first plan of this sort offered. Within 5 years I would expect it to be standard. The only thing making me nervous about these bets is the general public unwillingness to challenge their provider, and the provider's bitter unwillingness to compete aggressively on this front.

With a data only plan, the carrier only has to ensure a 3G or up connection for your device, and you're basically free to go with video, voice and text, with no issues. Of course, this is a little unimaginable for the time being, but on the 5 year timeline, its not completely unrealistic. Then what you want is your mobile OS to store contacts based on their service profiles. I, for example, would be in your contacts as a Google+ account. When you call me, through data only, my phone rings, and I see an incoming Hangout from you. Doesn't that make much more sense than using up your "minutes" when you call me? All we need for this to work is for carriers to provide strong data services.

Alright, over to you carriers. How competitive can you be with a data only plan?