Do you think voice messages could overtake text messages?
I am thinking that voice messages are the future. But i might be wrong. Want to start a discussion about this. :D
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I am thinking that voice messages are the future. But i might be wrong. Want to start a discussion about this. :D
Voice messages are great for the sender but are incredibly inconvenient for the receiver (at least that's my own opinion). You can't listen to them unless they have your undivided attention, you have to be somewhere quiet, you can't skim them if you're in a meeting, and it's harder to reference.
I will say, there is the advantage of being able to listen to something in transit / walking around.
Agree with the below the text to speech is personally the best of both worlds.
I was thinking the same thing and automated trascriptions could solve that problem.
I dunno. I read way faster than I listen.
Do you type faster than you speak?
I speak faster than I type for sure. But when communicating, I try to do what’s most convenient for the recipient. I find that audio favors the sender whereas text favors the recipient.
SPEECH TO TEXT and vice versa. We talk quicker (and more fluently) than we can type, but text-based communication is more efficient for a variety of reasons (conciseness, storage, editability, searchability etc). I think, with improvements in NLP for speech to text and automatic refinement of your messages, we will find we send texts much more frequently without ever reaching for a keyboard.
Good observation! I agree with what you're saying!
I am not sure how old the OP is, but I had to laugh while reading this title because I've come from a world of exclusively voice messaging that gradually turned to text messaging because everyone decided that they hated voice and that text was so much easier.
Nice to see the wheel has turned full circle in 2 decades... I guess that in a world where LP sales have outstripped CD sales in the past few years, nostalgia can mean money!
Cn you delve deeper into why people decided to hate voice messaging? Why was texting easier?
It was a generational thing mainly. Young kids in the 90's and 00's decided that voice conversations over phone was just too synchronous and time consuming. Uptake of smartphones with better predictive text and swipe keyboards pretty much became the norm.
It allowed people to converse while still sitting with other people or in a crowded situation - multiplexed friendships if you will - they could be having a conversation with their girl/boyfriend while sitting at a dinner with family, and not interrupt the same way a voice conversation would.
I don't know of anyone under 30 who enjoys a phone call over a text message or email. I am well past that now and even I don't enjoy non direct voice communication.
I don't enjoy Clubhouse as I cannot 'skim' the content and get to the bits or presenters that I really want to listen to, like I can with a podcast or video. I often just ignore voicemails that people leave for me (and my friends and family know that so I receive less that a handful of voicemails a year).
And like I said, I am definitely of the 'boomer' generation, so I expect that people younger than me will push back even more.
Thanks for this! Very insightful!
Really good subject. I am using voice messages on Whatsapp a lot. I think it could be the future if we create tools for making this experience more exclusive. I am always frustrated with all my voice messages on Whatsapp. I can't make search by voice messages, have recommendation about something I said...etc
A use case to explore :
In Ivory Coast, because of the high prices of Internet. Taxi drivers use voice messages on Whatsapp instead of applications like Waze or Google Maps to say to others drivers some informations (traffic jams, accidents on the road). If you succeed to transform all of these voice messages in a real time map....
The only thing you're missing from whatsapp is an indexind and searching feature for your voice messages?
I prefer to speak to text (use siri). I wouldn't listen to voice messages over text messages. This reminds me of voicemail, which I say in mine "don't leave me a message. please send me a text". I find that I can better multi task. Having to listen to voice would mean that I would have to stop everything
Some people may be shy due to their accent, etc. So, text seems to be more universal. Although, it would be nice to have "text-to-speech" or "speech-to-text" options
Do you think that could be a general problem with people being shy or is more an exception?
Given today's polarized environment, I'd say, more of a general problem. That's why I suggest options. Something like SpeechTexter can be considered
Hi @gorisek
I have not thought about it from a future perspective but I find voice messages to be incredibly convenient :)
What do you think makes them convenient? :D
Hopefully you see this, but would love to connect about this! We're starting an audio-based company and would love to share insights!
Great topic. I wish there were a way to follow a post here on IH so I could be notified of updates.
I think it would be cool if there were some hybrid solution that did:
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For my Mom's local plumbing business we are using WhatsApp voice recordings as an alternative to the plumbers calling dispatch to report on the jobs. They create the recording, send it to the main office WhatsApp account, and the office manger listens and transcribes. (The only hard part is training the plumbers to use it regularly)