9 reasons why MSN Messenger is still better than WhatsApp and Snapchat

When it comes to keeping in touch, we're now spoilt for choice. If we’re not absorbed in our WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger chats, there’s always Twitter, Snapchat and Google Hangouts to keep us busy. And that’s just the tip of the message-heavy iceberg. 

There only used to be one choice though. Well, at least one choice worth considering - MSN Messenger.

Launched back in 1999, a full 18 years ago, MSN Messenger was a pioneer. Sadly, despite its addictive, message-sending, memory-building ways, it was switched off for good in the UK and US four years ago today, March 15 2013.

Yes, time has passed, and new, arguably more superior services have launched in its place, but MSN Messenger will forever hold a special place in the hearts of many. Facebook and WhatsApp might dominate our current online chat sessions, but MSN Messenger was the instigator for many of the features we now take for granted.

More than that though, for any noughties kid, it was a new means of keeping in touch with mates without your parents knowing what you were up to. It was a lifeline to the outside world, assuming your mum didn’t need to use the house phone and kill the dial up connection.

It might now be a long distant memory, but there’s still plenty that MSN Messenger could teach the current cream of the instant messaging crop. And, with the Nokia 3310 having made a triumphant return in recent weeks, fingers crossed this nostalgia-inducing group of MSN Messenger features are due a comeback too.

Here are 9 fond MSN Messenger memories that Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and the pretenders owe their bread and butter to.