I've grown with ICQ, MSN Messenger, TeamSpeak, Skype, several local chat apps, then people obsessed with Facebook Messenger, then Snapchat... I just know any particular chatting app is a temporary fad that will eventually end, it's just their cycle. Don't get attached to them.
And they didn't make it any easier by removing SMS support from the mobile app.
It was pretty easy to get a couple of my friends to switch by saying it's just another SMS client that also supports highly encrypted messaging with other people that use Signal. Now that it's standalone, nobody will even fucking touch it.
I think it’s because texting became essentially free in North America long before it did in Europe. That, combined with the fact that it came preinstalled on EVERY phone (Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Palm, you name it), gave it enough inertia to stay dominant decades later.
Yeah, I know it’s probably not the right word for this context, but downloading an app and creating an account is factually a huge barrier for entry, because people are lazy.
I use sms quite a lot when network conditions are bad... with poor service (rural areas) or heavy congestion (sport events) SMS messages piggybacking on voice channels often stand a better chance of getting through than anything that requires an Internet data connection on 4G. That said I do have unusual use cases, the other 99% of the time normal messaging apps work fine.
It's unfortunate, I had just gotten a few people to take it up.... but that progress is lost. People prefer convenience over all else and having to use 2 different primary message apps sucks.
Always kept the Netzero around, but the best were the fly-by-nights who were sure they could run a successful business without Juno or Netzero's investment or technical debt by just asking you to pretty-please use their site as your home page.
Oh yeah, I've been through the same. Discord was nice while it lasted.
TS and Matrix will hopefully be the replacements I use if I can get people to switch. A lot of discord communities are heavily entrenched though, which I'm sure they're banking on to maintain momentum as the service quality continues to degrade.
As a casual user I find the entrenched communities more of a bug than a feature. Reminds me of reddit cliques. But, I do get your point, and I agree that the inertia will be a challenge when it comes to getting groups to migrate.