Slack finally catches up to AOL Instant Messenger
Slack just got a new feature and it's one old-school instant messaging fans will appreciate.
The workplace chat app added a new feature that lets you set a "status" so you can tell everyone at your organization what you're up to. In other words: It's pretty much Slack's version of away messages from AOL Instant Messenger.
Particularly useful for alerting coworkers that you're out sick, traveling or otherwise unable to get back to them, the status feature shows up when anyone sees your name in Slack.
Here's what it looks like in action.
Of course, being Slack, the feature makes liberal use of emoji and GIFs, which opens up some pretty cool possibilities (and some prime trolling opportunities.) Honestly, the real question here is why Slack didn't roll out such a feature sooner.
The feature will also have developer tie-ins, so app makers can integrate their service with a particular status.
"For instance, a travel assistant app could read someone’s flight itinerary and update their status when they’re in the air. Or an incident monitoring tool could add “On Call” to the status of a developer on rotation," the company writes in its developer blog.
But really, none of that can compare to using your status as yet another way to subtly troll your coworkers.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
