App end

With something as functional as an app - and presumably you mainly download those you are going to use - it behooves us to compare their, uh, application with that of all our hard copy antecedents.
As a form of communication how does it compare to a letter or postcard, a telephone call or moving into more recent times, e-mail (hyphen optional)?

In terms of providing updates on current events and trends, how much has it replaced newspapers and magazines? We can move onto news broadcasts on radio and television; their current affairs offshoots.

Are you really better off in the app? If I have sites bookmarked in my browser I don't usually have trouble getting back in. I've also noticed that my Facebook functionality is different in the app than on my browser on the tablet.

And how does it compare to the Usenet groups the newsgroups the IRC message boards and old school forums