Figma is my new favorite 1:1 messaging app https://twitter.com/john_c_palmer/status/1241448502355472385

we're really accustomed to seeing text chats displayed on a time line, a vertical stack. there's a wall between your side of the convo and mine

Figma changes your relationship to virtual land — the conversation can unfold in all directions at once, which totally changes the vibe

when you move your convo to a basically infinite canvas, you suddenly have access to whole new layers of meaning. maybe i type my reply really close to yours because it's related, or surround your comment with an emoji collage, or start a whole new thread in a faraway corner

messaging apps define the box where your convo takes place, and you're not really sharing the same space. on my phone, i'm on the right side; on yours i'm on the left. in Figma you can create the content *and* the container. change the shape of the convo by making new containers

Figma's multiplayer cursors are way better at communicating presence than any typing indicator. you can easily see where your friend's head is at, what they're paying attention to. plus, cursor tag/dancing is also a fun form of communication

of course the array of fonts and colors and text sizes gives you a million and one flavors to express whatever you're trying to say. maybe i want to duplicate your witty response and make it into a concrete poem or a giant poster or a weird geometric shape

there's no distinction between published and unpublished, no clean break between sent and unsent. everything unfolds in broad daylight and without permanent attribution. it's not about who said what, it's about the unique mosaic you're piecing together

you can use your spatial recall, remember 'where' you put a particular idea, what it looked like, etc. rescue your beloved conversations from the memory-killing monotony of blue and gray bubbles

over time you create a collage of conversational history, a visual representation of the topics/feelings you've been exploring together. or you can treat your convo space as an unprecious living doc and update as you go. it's a lot more evocative than scrolling up a text thread