Here's the message by Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram: "😝 Next month, channel owners on Telegram can start receiving financial rewards from their work. Broadcast channels on Telegram generate 1 trillion views monthly. Currently, only 10% of these views are monetized with Telegram Ads (https://promote.telegram.org/) — a promotion tool designed with privacy (https://t.me/durov/203) in mind. In March, the Telegram Ad Platform will officially open to all advertisers in nearly a hundred new countries. Channel owners…
  • mipadaitu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    287·
    10 months ago

    I don’t understand Telegram, it just seems like Signal, but worse. Can someone explain to me what the purpose of Telegram is?

    • tahoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      261·
      10 months ago

      I’ve been a heavy Telegram user since around 2016. I’d say the main thing I love about it is their focus on user experience. Everything is always super fast, looks nice and feels smooth. They’re often pushing new features which is always cool to see.

      Plus their iOS/macOS apps look native and aren’t web-based, so it’s a great replacement for iMessage.

      At this point I’ve converted my whole family and friends and they all love it too!

    • nihilvain@lemmy.mlEnglish
      162·
      10 months ago

      For me:

      • Awesome stickers with very good custom sticker support.
      • You can use a nickname to chat, you don’t need to share your GSM number with anyone which was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place. On that account , better privacy than Signal or ShitsApp.
      • You can use simultaneously on multiple web AND mobile devices.
      • You don’t lose your chat history when you login from another mobile device like in ShitsApp.
      • Stores your media server-side. So you always have your full chat with all the media in it. Of course this requires care about what you share with other.
      • Forwarding messages between chats has a lot of flexibility.
      • Message editing. Which ShitsApp finally copied. 🤣
      • Constantly improved. They are always adding more features.
      • The channel support is really good…
        • nihilvain@lemmy.mlEnglish
          11·
          10 months ago

          Yes, finally. But I would say a bit late to the party. And a privacy focused IM not thinking about this for years blows my mind.

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
      101·
      10 months ago

      It works, on every OS, seamlessly, for instant messaging (which is all I use it for).

      I use multiple devices throughout the day, and all messages show up instantly on every device, while supporting file transfers, etc.

      It just works.

      Signal is like using SMS. The UI sucks. And no sync between devices. I appreciate what they’re trying to do (which is why sync between devices is challenging), but I can’t get anyone to use it anymore since they dropped SMS support.

    • TxzK@lemmy.zipEnglish
      146·
      10 months ago

      Telegram banned me literally seconds after I registered, even before I could finish setting up my profile. Not once but twice weth two different numbers. Without any kinds of explanations as to why. I’ve contacted support multiple times but literally zero replies. People literally do drug businesses there, host pirated stuff and CSAM, that’s somehow ok and me just registering is where they draw the line?

      Can’t say that about Signal. So as far as I’m concerned, yeah Signal is way better.

    • zod000@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      10 months ago

      A good cross platform user friendly client goes a long way, especially having a good desktop version.

    • Clot@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1714·
      10 months ago

      Its better than signal in every aspect except privacy (still better than whatsapp in that and arguably a secure messaging app).

      • mipadaitu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        348·
        10 months ago

        You didn’t tell me how it’s better in any way, and you told me that it’s worse in a very very important way. So… why would I ever use it?

        Sounds to me like Signal is still the best messaging app.

        • Clot@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          242·
          10 months ago

          Its better because: It can sustain big public groups (upto 200k peoples), channels with unlimited subscribers, unlimited cloud storage (files upto 4gb, synced across devices), powerful bots, web apps, native crypto support, you can do pretty much anything within the app (literally a superapp), heaven for pirates, stickers, video calls, live streams, etc. unlimited devices could be signed up for one account, messages sync across devices, free with minimal ads, premium to get more features, completely run by users support and ad platform, no external entity involved. secret chats for end 2 end encryption chats and much more.

        • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          Telegram is more geared towards group communication. It has a much better group chat experience and a channel feature that lets you disseminate information in a single place without a discussion taking place. It is better at group communications in that it is more feature-rich.

          If you’re doing is 1:1 messaging or have some small group chats with 2-3 friends you wouldn’t get much out of it over Signal.

        • Hugohase@kbin.social
          720·
          10 months ago

          I’ve heard Telegram is better for distributing Russian/right wing propaganda, so there is that…

          • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
            9·
            10 months ago

            It’s not really “better” it just has an opt in social media feature (these channels)… There’s no recommendation algorithm, it’s not pushing anything, you have to explicitly seek these channels out.

            It would be like subscribing to a Lemmy community except there’s not even a “front page” feed, you have to explicitly search for it. Nobody accidentally is joining “Nazis R Us” or being subjected to their messaging.

            Now is it helping these groups organize/spread information to their members… Maybe?

            Telegram has a pretty relaxed moderation platform that basically is “don’t call for violence, don’t do illegal things, and we’re generally okay with it”

            Worth a read (from the founder) https://t.me/durov/230

          • Clot@lemm.eeOPEnglish
            42·
            10 months ago

            nice argument comrade, “I’ve heard”

      • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        11·
        10 months ago

        Any app that depends on you forgetting about privacy is bound to make everything else shine so bright you forget that flaw

        • Clot@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          While the fact is privacy has been there top priority since starting, heck they even have e2ee chats. No data leaks report so far

    • LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      10 months ago

      It’s big in the furry fandom, weirdly enough. Not as much these days as it used to be, but still big enough.