Anyone else using group messaging instead of Facebook?

Several members of my extended family have recently gotten iPhones. It seems that when it hit a critical mass of the presence of at least one iPhone in each of 5 families, our Facebook use dropped to zero. Everyone converses in group texts via iMessage. And photos and movies that used to get posted to Facebook, now get texted. Group text has far fewer features than Facebook, but it seems to serve our needs better. Maybe it's the holidays, but our total amount of interaction seems to have increased since switching.

I like to watch what my non-tech-savvy friends and family do as a bellwether for the masses. Is anyone else seeing a surge in group messaging? I installed Kik last year, but deleted it when none of my friends or family used it.