KakaoTalk Open Chat replaces 'Reply' with 'Comment' feature... Users say "It’s harder to read now"

[The Financial News] Kakao has revamped the reply feature for specific messages in KakaoTalk Open Chat into a "comment" format. The company has introduced a threaded style, similar to Slack and other messengers, where multiple comments can be grouped under a single message.
Kakao announced on the 28th that it has updated its KakaoTalk Open Chat service, including the introduction of the comment feature.
Back in 2018, Kakao introduced a feature that allowed users to long-press a specific chat bubble to send a reply. This made it convenient to pull up past messages and respond to them. However, users had to search through the conversation one by one to see what replies were attached to each message, which was inconvenient.
With the new threaded format, multiple responses are linked to a specific message, making it easier to view related conversations at a glance. When users click the comment icon on a particular message, a separate window opens where they can continue the discussion about that message.
A Kakao representative explained, "To help users follow the flow of topics they care about without losing track, we expanded the 'comment' feature, which had previously been available only in 'Open Chat communities', to regular Open Chat rooms as well."
Previously, users could only leave text or emojis when replying to a message. With this update, they can now add photos, videos, files, maps, voice messages, and contacts as comments under a message.
However, user reactions to the new comment feature have been largely negative. Many say, "The new comments make the KakaoTalk chat window harder to read."
Others complained, saying, "The Open Chat room list is now hidden and we’re being forced to see community content we’re not interested in," and, "Just like the Friends tab update, this seems aimed at Kakao’s profitability rather than users." Some also pointed out, "One out of the four items shown is an ad."
gaa1003@fnnews.com Reporter An Gaeul Reporter