Messaging Wars: Vine vs. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat

It's been hard to ignore the meteoric rise of the private messaging industry over the past two months.

First came Facebook's jaw-dropping $16 billion purchase of standalone messaging service WhatsApp in February. Chat app Viber was acquired by Rakuten for $900 million. Then messaging startup Tango raised $280 million in March, a funding round that valued the company at more than $1 billion, according to .

So it's no surprise that social media platforms, the ones that view messaging as a supplemental feature, have been busy keeping up.

On Thursday, Vine released Vine Messages, the app's first foray into private messaging. It's a competitive move to keep up with Facebook (whose Messenger and Instagram apps both offer private messaging) and Snapchat.

So how can you tell these services apart, and what are their pros and cons? Here's our quick primer.

Vine Messages

History: Launched April 2014

Pros:

Includes Vine video production features (stop motion, grid lines).

Send text and/or video messages.

Send messages to people who aren't on Vine.

Cons:

Can't create group messages.

Can't send still images, only videos.

Can't send videos from camera roll.

Best Use Case: Sending a creative video.

Overview: Vine is the latest social platform to unveil private messaging, and its unrivaled video capabilities (stop motion, grid lines) should make it popular for video messages. But users can't send videos from their camera roll, and the absence of group messages puts Vine messaging at a disadvantage.

Instagram Direct

History: Launched December 2013

Pros:

Cons:

Best Use Case: Sending artsy pictures, or videos with filters.

Overview: Instagram unveiled its messaging feature to lots of fanfare in December, but little has been said about it since. (There was some news yesterday, but it wasn't positive; actor James Franco used Instagram Direct to connect to a 17-year-old fan.)

The feature certainly doesn't detract from Instagram; it just doesn't add enough to make it a major player.

Facebook Messenger

History: Launched August 2011

Pros:

Cons:

Best Use Case: Connecting with Facebook friends whose phone numbers you've lost.

Overview: This is the most robust app in the bunch. Messenger was poised for a big year in 2014; Facebook redesigned the app and made it faster (more like texting) in October, and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned Messenger multiple times during the company's Q1 earnings call.

Then Facebook bought standalone messaging app WhatsApp for $16 billion, begging the question: where does Messenger fit in? Messenger supports free phone calls over Wi-Fi, making it another facet of Zuckerberg's attempt to connect the world online.

Twitter Direct Messages History: Launched November 2006Pros:

Send text and/or picture messages.

Take pictures through the app, or send photos from the camera roll.

Filters and photo editing tools.

Cons:

Can't create group messages.

Can't send videos.

Can only send messages to people who follow you.

Can only receive messages from people you follow.

Messages limited to 140 characters.

Best Use Case: Continuing a Twitter exchange in private.

Overview: Twitter DMs have been part of the service from the start. It's surprising, then, that the feature has not evolved more over the past eight years. You can send picture messages, as of December, but you can't send videos, you can't create group messages, and each individual message is limited to 140 characters. It's a rather simple offering.

The rules about who you can message are helpful - you won't get spammed by people you don't follow - but they are also limiting. There seems to be lots of room for growth here, and we expect Twitter to do just that down the road.

Snapchat

History: Launched July 2011

Pros:Cons:

Messages disappear - don't send stuff you want to save.

People can screen grab your images (and they will, trust us).

Text is limited; can't fit more than 78 characters, usually fewer.

Can't send text-only messages.

Can't create ongoing group messages.

Best Use Case: Sending goofy or inappropriate photos and videos.

Overview: There isn't much pressure with Snapchat, which is a good thing. You aren't going to use the service for serious back-and-forth messaging, and group messaging doesn't exist. You can send stuff that's fun, goofy, or inappropriate, and know that it will exist for just a short time on the receiving end.

The danger, of course, is that recipients can screen grab your photos if you want. So go crazy, but not too crazy - or get some more trustworthy friends.

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