A real-time trigger for event-based electronic communication system messaging. In one embodiment, for example, an event caused by a user's activity or inactivity with respect to an online service is queued. When the event is dequeued, it is transformed to a trigger and the trigger is mapped to an action. The action is dispatched to a messaging track actor to carry out the action. Carrying out the action may include putting a user on a messaging track or transitioning the state of a user already on a messaging track.