As more and more of these get GPlused, the more repuslive they are become. Among all the IM apps out there, I think hangouts sucks the most. More than the fb messenger. 2-3 years back, a lot of people I knew were using gtalk. Infact that was the default IM. We use watsapp now, or fb in case we don't have a number, but not hangouts. This massive transition clearly happened during the gtalk to hangouts change and I don't think I will go back unless the experience becomes better.