Skip to main content

Jupiterimages

The group messaging space reminds me a little of the group buying space. It's trendy. It's crowded. It's coming to a phone near you.

If you're wondering what group messaging is all about, think about it like this: If you want try to round up a group of friends to go to dinner Friday night, simply create a group from your contact list on your phone. You can then send out an invite message to everyone in the group and everyone can reply back within the same stream, so no one is missing a piece of the conversation. You can also assign a unique phone number to a group, so that you can continue to get in touch with these individuals whenever you want. Although many people currently do this via e-mail with group lists, group messaging promises to be more flexible and in many respects more convenient.



Facebook apparently sees the potential and on Tuesday acquired group messaging company Beluga, started by three ex-Google employees. The start-up makes it easy to launch chat rooms on the go, all done via SMS. There is no word how much Facebook paid for this company, but there is speculation that the largest social network in the world simply wanted the talent behind the technology. Whatever the reason, the group messaging world is on fire, with new services drawing attention from users and investors.

Last month GroupMe raised around $11-million (U.S.) in funding. They offer an iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry app (competitor FastSociety.com only has an iPhone download). Aside from chatting with a select group of people, this tool allows you to share your location and photos (so you can find out where they are and what they're doing), and there is integration with Twitter and Facebook. While other tools in this category do the same thing, GroupMe appears to be creating the most buzz in this space. As The Wall Street Journal the New York-based start-up is a hit with everyone from early adopters to soccer moms looking to co-ordinate drop-offs and pick-ups.

Although the appeal of texting is what makes this form of communicating so popular, since you can reach a group of contacts at once from your smartphone, there is another company that is focusing on your web conversations first. Convore is beautifully designed site that is a cinch to use. It's easy to follow public groups to take part in existing chats or start your own private group. This service, unlike GroupMe and Beluga, leans toward larger group communication. However, as they further develop the site and build mobile apps, there is no doubt that the ease-of-use will be an attractive feature for phone-friendly users.

In a couple of weeks tens of thousands of tech influencers will descend on Austin for SXSWi, the festival where Twitter surged to the forefront of microblogging four years ago. Once this event comes to an end, one group messaging service is likely to emerge as a fan favourite. It may take some time for the mainstream population to follow suit, but no doubt it's only a matter of time before private messaging is done so in groups.

Interact with The Globe