Does Feature Creep Make Apps Like Facebook Messenger Harder To Use?

iTunes played music. Messenger and Snapchat sent quick messages to your friends. Now they all do way more.

By Alain StephensApril 20, 2017 1:36 pm,

If you’ve tried to use Facebook Messenger to chat with friends, you may have had trouble locating the Chat box, amid the software’s many other features. Once a simple chat app, Messenger can now hail you a ride, make a payment, or listen to music with Spotify.

Omar Gallaga, with 512 tech by the Austin American-Statesman says Facebook is far from alone in larding its software with features that users like him don’t necessarily want, but that companies hope will make their apps more compelling.

“I think Microsoft Office is a good example of that – of where they add so many features that it becomes unuseful,” Gallaga says. “And I think Microsoft did a thing with one of their recent updates where they said ‘OK, let’s take a step back and make this stuff more accessible and more easy to find. But it took a long time to get there.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– What “feature creep” means

– What Facebook Messenger does besides chat

–How tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, and Snapchat, have bloated their software