Culture Clash Issue #287 - The Case for Native Asynchronous Video Messaging on iOS
The most emphatic and human way to message
In 2020 I discovered a new way to communicate with my friends and family. Asynchronous video messages. The change came about when I started using the app Marco Polo. Marco Polo is a video messaging app designed from the ground up as its own unique messaging experience. At its core, it lets you record a video message and send it to an individual or group. Video messaging has a unique ability to transmit empathy. This emphatic form of communication is great at generating a human connection.
Last March, I adopted Async Video Messaging as one of my primary ways of communicating. I’ve spent almost a year in constant use and experimentation with this medium both at work and in my personal life. It comes close to being the ideal communication medium of our time. So much so that I predict it will be natively built into our mobile operating systems within the next 2-3 years.
The medium of async video messages comes with its own unique brand of experience hurdles. It’s a performative medium. You need to be on camera and record yourself. You may want to be alone or somewhere private to be able to send and receive these types of messages. Marco Polo does let you put the phone to your ear and privately listen to messages, like a voicemail. Unlike texts, video is not easy to quickly scan and get the gist of a message.
These are real challenges, but there can be overcome. In my opinion, the benefits gained by communicating through Marco Polo tend to outweigh any challenges. I've seen this over and over again with people of different ages.
This past year, using Async Video Messages, I’ve
had deep and meaningful ongoing conversations with many people over weeks
been part of a community experience sharing common struggles around health concerns
been able to share important moments with friends and family
Once you get over the initial psychological hump, the medium of async video delivers. Let’s dive deeper into the why.
In an age littered with communication mediums, texting can often feel impersonal. It's difficult to glean tone and social cues from a text. Zooms and Facetimes often feel exhausting. They demand coordination of schedules and your full attention. Async video falls somewhere inbetween. It doesn’t require any time coordination. You can record your messages on your own time. The recipient of your message doesn’t need to read between the lines to understand your message. They get to see your facial expressions and body language. A meaningful connection is quickly established.
Async video is already all around us. The stories format, originated by Snapchat some years back, is a form of async video messaging. On Snapchat, users communicate 1:1 or in groups via 10-second video clips. Some years later, Instagram proceeded to copy stories from Snapchat. It took what was primarily a peer to peer format and transformed it into a mass scale broadcast medium.
So video messaging is great. But why does it matter if it’s native to a mobile OS?
The reason it matters is twofold. One, this is the best way to speed up adoption of this communication trend across the world. Second, I believe video messaging is a foundational communication medium. It should not require a specialized app. Apple created FaceTime and native audio messaging in iMessage for this reason. On iOS, video calls and audio messages are both foundational and do not require a third party app.
Creating a successful async video message experience may be challenging for Apple. Not only will it require a unique UI. Apple may need to look at its iMessage technical infrastructure. Snapchat, Instagram, and Marco Polo all stream videos directly to a user. The experience is seamless with little lag. From what I understand about iMessage infrastructure, it doesn't currently work that way.
You can send video messages today on iOS through iMessage. However, the experience requires many steps. It feels more like sharing a video in a text chat than native video messaging.
If my hunch is right, Apple has already prototyped this experience. They're waiting for the right moment to bring it to market. While we wait for this to happen, I will continue to evangelize the value and power of async video messaging.
You can find me at https://marcopolo.me/s/oz-l0.
5 links
✍🏻 The Origins of Video-Chat Voice
Why do we sound so strange on Zoom or Facetime?
The sound coming through the phone didn’t have his voice’s normal shape or elasticity. I felt deprived. We accept odd failures from our technology; I would never expect a real-time video to overcome the uncanniness inherent in turning three dimensions into two. But since our voices are invisible—just air—something in me figured they should travel better.
A computer engineering professor and audio expert explains this mystery.
✍🏻 Design Trends Predictions for 2021
A great trends list featuring some well known designers. Trends mentioned include Ecosystem Design, Customization & Emotions, and functional beauty.
An excellent new and free app for educators. It’s an iPhone and iPad app that turns your device into a document camera. It’s simple and quite flexible. If you’re a teacher or just need to show sketches or papers on your desk during a zoom, this is a great utility. There’s also a nice DIY video on how to use it.
Masters of Scale is a fairly generic podcast from Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn. But this episode feels different. Reid talks to Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, about how to create a culture of innovation. Google doesn’t get enough credit for creating a great culture of innovation. I’m not sure this culture still pervades their massive company, but it’s inspiring nonetheless.
A wonderfully simple utility that lets you replace your TV remote with an app. It works with most major TVs. It supports Siri Shortcuts and Widgets for great automation and quick actions.
✍🏻 Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
A great piece in the NYTimes on how the social network for film lovers developed a dedicated following over the past 10 years.
I completely agree. I think asych video is a game changer for communication between friends and family and also in the professional world. As a health professional, I have used with with people I work with and it provides several really important advantages, both for me and for my clients. First, it is quick and easy. It can be done anytime anywhere with minimal effort for both parties. It also gives each of us a peek into each others lives, which fosters a deeper connection and builds trust. I am also able to get insights into the lives of my clients that is impossible over text or in a weekly visit to my office. Being able to see people in their own environment, living their daily lives, allows me to understand them more intimately and give them what they need in a more authentic way.
Love your thoughts on MarcoPolo.
I've been thinking a lot about video lately. It's interesting how it's still developing so much on the internet.
It seems like most tech companies were either focused on video calls, or on 1-many use cases for async video.
My assumption here is that video for 1-1/few was too expensive (in time, money, storage, bandwidth) for a long time, and had inferior network effects.
Happy to see this is now changing with products like this. Video is such a natural way to express yourself and land a message. I think a lot of text boxes on the internet will become videos at some point, maybe I wouldn't even respond to this e-mail in text...
I think Loom falls in this category as well.