It is highly impractical to add 100 contacts just for a group chat. It is helpful that contact photos are predetermined and that everyone can like a message regardless of whether they have an iPhone or an Android.

GroupMe solves a lot of those problems and more by making group chats easier to join and leave at any time. Messages can be liked, polls can be used without everyone getting notifications about them and ownership of the chat can be transferred if someone goes abroad or graduates. That being said, there is a reason that in smaller groups conversations tend to move off of GroupMe. Because although we all know we need it, there are definitely some big issues with GroupMe.

GroupMe desperately needs to figure out its notifications. First of all, sometimes the app doesn’t alert you when there is a direct message. This can leave messages waiting for weeks at a time before you open the app and see them. Since GroupMe chats can sometimes reach over 100 people, many members will mute the chat or ignore the messages sent, thus negating the entire point of having a group chat. Some clubs on campus have first-years join the GroupMe during Activities Unlimited, and then they are sometimes in there without any real involvement in the organization. This leads to unnecessary notifications that distract from any important messages that might be sent.

Bucknell has also had an ongoing problem with some of their unlocked chats. These types of group chats can be helpful for allowing people across campus to join without having to ask permission, but this has also allowed a lot of scammers to invade our GroupMe messages. I have been in multiple group chats where someone has entered and tried to sell concert tickets, video game sets or expensive electronics, revealing how easily random people can enter and disrupt group chats if we’re not careful. 

At Bucknell, many people keep group projects and one-on-one conversations to text for the ease and efficiency of having reliable notifications and communication. People aren’t quick to start a GroupMe unless there are more than about 15 people because that can be a lot for a text message. iMessage can only fit 32 total contacts in a group text, and Google Message only allows for 20. This necessitates the existence of apps like GroupMe for larger group communication because I’m sure we can all agree we would prefer GroupMe to email for shorter, more casual communication.