While most conversation on the web takes place using text, people still use voice messaging. Not yet obsolete, this method is still popular with it having its own fans.
Facebook which takes cues from WhatsApp and some others that have voice messaging feature, is giving Instagram its own direct voice messaging which is similar to a push-to-talk walkie-talkie.
The company launches this feature after months of testing.
To use it, users can simply tap and hold the microphone button to record a short voice message. Sharing this will put the message in the chat as an audio wave form recipients can listen to.
Instagram's voice messages can be up to one-minute long, permanently listenable (not disappearing like Stories), and can be sent in one-on-one and group chats on both iOS and Android.
The feature also offers an off-camera asynchronous alternative to the video calling feature Instagram released in June. This makes it comparable, and also a competitor to the likes of Viber, Zello, Telegram, as well as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Voice messaging is often used by those who are on the move with their hands occupied, people who want more intimate connections but without the long audio or video calls, as well as by drivers.
It's also popular in countries with less popular languages, or to those whose alphabets aren't easily compatible with smartphones' usual keyboards.
Those people have kept voice messaging away from dying, as they prefer talking to others with voice rather than typing most people are already accustomed to.
Voice messaging certainly isn't new to Facebook.
But since the company acknowledges that many people use Instagram as their main chat platform, Facebook thinks it would be great to introduce this particular voice messaging feature to them. But this is also concerning, as it shows how deeply Facebook wants to be involved in the voice market and Instagram.
Previously, the social giant didn't really care about voice messaging, and had a little interest in it. Facebook only got serious in building one starting 2018.
Facebook Messenger has it, so does WhatsApp, WeChat and a slew others.
For Instagram, this is interesting as the platform created by Kevin Systrom relies primarily on visual contents rather than words and sound. With voice messaging feature, Instagram is like taking a left turn, turning into something more complicated that it should.
This may be a welcome feature for some users. But on the other side of the equation, voice messages could be just another sign of how Facebook wants to continue to clutter its acquired products with its own features, despite saying that it wouldn't.