Slack is changing how people work — and it isn’t slowing down

Slack — nearing its fourth anniversary since launching to the public — is not a passing fad. The communications service for companies and groups is now a tool that six million people use every day, up from about four million a year prior — despite increased competition from much larger rivals like Microsoft and Facebook.

This year, Slack — represented on the Recode 100 by CEO Stewart Butterfield and VP of Product April Underwood — launched a new version of its service tailored for big corporate customers. And it debuted a new — potentially very useful! — feature that lets teams in different companies chat within a shared Slack channel. (It also raised another $250 million and passed $200 million in annual recurring revenue this past summer.)

One big question is whether Slack will mature into an interface for more of your work life — or if will remain mostly a chat room. For now, it seems Slack is still mostly counting on other companies to integrate those features. Slack says 90 percent of its paid teams actively use add-on apps. And the company has an $80 million fund to invest in companies building promising apps for its ecosystem.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via