LinkedIn is great for connecting with professionals, and Facebook is great for non-professional chatter, but no company created a popular social network on which people could communicate professionally until Slack came along.

Slack offers its users a more intimate place to chat than Facebook and strips away the “social network” aspect of communication from which Facebook sprung. While Facebook in essence is a message board where people can interact with each other, Slack is expressly intended for personal interaction.

Slack also has partnered with several other companies to make it so that its users never have to leave the site. For example, a Slack user can now book a flight on Kayak via Slack. In addition, Slack offers its users the ability  to embed gifs and emojis in their messages without going completely overboard like Snapchat does.

Facebook operates similarly. The social network has become a place where users can stash their photos, host private conversations with their friends, and peruse the news. Both Slack and Facebook use these strategies to make it so their users never want to log out, in effect building customer loyalty.

This is where Slack and Facebook could compete. One company is vying for the attention of the the whole internet-using world, while the other has already captured the business world. Seeing as Slack already has already gained 300 million daily active users since its 2013 launch, it is possible that it could one day rival Facebook.

As social media users use messaging options more and more frequently, Slack has an edge on Facebook. It could just be the next big thing.

Image via the Atlantic.