I think I'd like to call it The Great Messaging Fragmentation. It's been happening ever since I needed Pidgin (then Gaim) to keep in touch with my friends. Now there's a business reason to fragment even further, it's not going to get any better and I don't think there's a way to improve things. I'll be over here on IRC if you need me.

At least with Pidgin I could participate with any modern networked computing device. We have now reached a point where the most popular messaging networks are exclusively tied to smartphones (e.g., WhatsApp).

What worries me most though, is that some businesses and governments no longer appear willing to use e-mail for external formal communication at all. When I asked my bank (ING in the Netherlands) how I could e-mail them with a question, they stated that e-mail is no longer an option (not even via a web-form), and that I would have to use Twitter direct messages, Facebook, or a web-based chat-page for any digital communication with them.

E-mail may not be hip, but I do get to keep an archive with sent and received communications that I can easily backup and keep for future reference, just like I do with paper mail (at least the important stuff).

> When I asked my bank (ING in the Netherlands) how I could e-mail them with a question, they stated that e-mail is no longer an option (not even via a web-form), and that I would have to use Twitter direct messages, Facebook, or a web-based chat-page for any digital communication with them.

Wow, that's pretty ignorant to say the least.