Group messaging has become a integral part of our daily communication whether it is MMS, Facebook, Google Hangout, Skype, or even email. But there are aspects of group chats that are unpleasant. Like other forms of messaging, it's simple not to participate in it and have no guilt in doing so; for some people, there's no sense of obligation to respond to messages.
Engagement is difficult for on-going group chats. When there is over 50 unread messages in the conversation, it's troublesome to "catch up" especially when an active discussion is taking place. Group chat is great for small talk. It's also a decent method of discussing dinner plans assuming those who don't reply aren't partaking in dinner. But for actual discussion/debates that require a smooth flowing conversation, it's horrendous. This could be due to the priority that people put on textual conversations (multitasking), people who dominate the conversation by not allowing others enough time to type out their responses, or the lack of responses from participants. For these reasons, verbal conversation won't be replaced for textual ones for intense discussions. Besides, it's easier to listen than to read for those conversations. I think fatigue eventually sets in while constantly reading and typing messages. Overall, textual group chats also seem less satisfying.
There should be a method of "pinging"/notifying a particular individual in a group chat when their input/attention is needed. This would be similar to distinction between the "To:" and "CC/BCC:" fields in an email but more prominent.
Maybe there should also be an "awaiting response" state instead of having to send another message informing them that you are waiting for their response. Think "Over" at the end of walkie-talkies messages.
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