We live in a world of digital messages. Indeed, we are bombarded with hundreds of digital messages a day, ranging from casual chatter with our friends on our favorite chat platform, to downright rubbish. Sometimes, however, we do receive real valuable messages, for instance, a message to reset a password or one containing a One Time Password (OTP). Other times, we may receive messages that are malicious or dangerous. For example, phishing attacks or messages that pretend to be from individuals who are not who they say they are. Due to the multitude of messages that we receive daily all the time, most of us are in a mode to just respond. If we spend too long on one specific message to evaluate or assess what the best response should be or choose to ignore it, we will just not make it through the day.

Not all messages can be judged in the same way. The importance or relevance of a message may be different depending on the time that it was received. For instance, if an OTP message arrives late, it does not have any value. It must be available at a specific time and in a time-band that is probably a minute. Outside of that minute, the message does not have any value. The value of a message is also different from one person to another. What could be very important for me to know, might not have any value to another person. Many factors influence the value of a specific message. As highlighted above, it could be the time it was received, who it was sent to, the way content was displayed and presented, and if it was delivered securely or in the open.

There is much more value in a messaging system that deals with the intrinsic value of a message explicitly. Such a system must have the ability to assess the value of the message, given all the different dimensions that could influence its value. The messaging system also should have the ability to learn about value through some sort of feedback loop. End-consumers must have the ability to give feedback on how the value was interpreted and if it was accurately done. Added to this, the messaging system also must have the ability to find malicious messages and eliminate them, as well as identify the originator of such messages. It must have the ability to guarantee the identity of the author and flag suspicious content. There is so much more to a messaging system than just delivering messages. Some message delivery systems add more value than others by recognizing the difference in value from one message to another.

Next time when you receive one of your hundreds of messages, take a bit of time to consider the effort that went into delivering the message predictably, securely, and with an understanding of the intrinsic value to you. Without an appreciation of the value of messages, it would not be possible to create robust and usable chat commerce solutions.