Rowan Rey Sutherland Telegram Messenger was launched in 2013. Telegram was founded by Pavel Durov. He had previously founded the Russian equivalent of Facebook, “VKontakte”. Telegram Messenger LLP is based in London. The messenger can be used both via mobile and desktop. To mark its sixth birthday, a short story on its development to date was published in August 2019. about Telegram
Is Telegram secure?
Telegram positions itself as a secure alternative to WhatsApp & Co. The messaging app also advertises security on its own website: “Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed.” Telegram Messenger offers two forms of encryption. Chats and group chats are protected by a client-server / server-client encryption mechanism by default and kept encrypted in the Telegram Cloud.
However, there are enough reasons why Telegram is not a secure messenger – at least not more secure than WhatsApp.
Current user numbers
At the beginning of January 2021, Telegram announced that it has 500 million monthly active users. This puts the messenger ahead of Snapchat (229 million daily active users) or Twitter, for example.
In between, there were reports that Telegram already had over 280 million users.
In March 2018, CEO Pavel Durov announced on the Telegram blog that the messenger had 200 million monthly active users. This means that the number of users has increased by 30 million within five months (October 2017: 170 million monthly active users).
Telegram is ranked 9th in the top 9 messaging apps / chat apps worldwide (not including system-immanent messengers such as Apple’s iMessage or Android Messages / Google Chat) by monthly active users, with WhatsApp in first place.
The download figures in the Google Play Store are also of interest for the global assessment of Telegram Messenger. In 2020, with 500 million downloads in the Google Play Store, the messenger is still behind its competitors, WhatsApp (5 billion) and Facebook (2 billion). about Telegram
In July 2019, the messaging app Telegram was downloaded around 9 million times worldwide. A year earlier, the number of downloads was still around 4.8 million.
2. Business Account: How companies can use Telegram
A company has one decisive advantage by using Telegram instead of other messaging apps: Telegram users can search for and subscribe to companies via the Discover area. This provides an easy entry point from the messenger itself to lead customers or users to the respective channel.
Basically, you have the following features on Telegram Messenger:
Telegram Profile
A profile is a personal account (for private use but also as an admin in channels & groups).
Telegram Channel
The push channel can have an unlimited number of subscribers and only admin & bots can post. Comments are not allowed and replies are not possible!
Telegram Group
A Telegram group or chat can have a maximum of 200,000 members and anyone can post. The admin of the group assigns rights, e.g. for pictures or videos.
Telegram Bot
A Telegram Bot is a kind of Robo Admin that can also post to groups and channels. User can also follow a bot directly. Subscribers can reply directly to the bot’s newsletters – but unlike in a group, only the bot’s administrators can see the replies!
The easiest and best option is to create a Telegram Bot. The Telegram Bot API or Telegram Business API is free and can be used to create bots for social, gaming, productivity, and e-commerce services. However, Telegram bots can also be used for human support by connecting them to a CRM or messaging platform.
MessengerPeople has integrated Telegram Messenger into its Messenger Communication Platform. The software solution allows companies to manage marketing and customer service via Telegram in a scalable way and offer multi-messenger service if desired. With the integrated widget, as you can see for example at the end of this article or on the right-hand corner of the website when you click on the chat icon, companies can easily integrate Telegram on their website and offer it as a channel.
Comparing Telegram Channels with Groups
The features built in Telegram are able to boost the relationship between businesses and their customers. So why Telegram channels and not groups? Actually, both of them have their own uses and purposes. Telegram channel is more suitable for SaaS company, using it for power users. It is lightweight enough with the capability to share recent information, such as products, thoughts, services and updated features. There is no need for a blog or website publication. Just a Telegram Channel suffices.
The difference between Telegram channels and groups or any other features in messaging apps is the fact that you can chat with people on a large-scale by subscribing to your channel. No, you don’t need a Telegram API at all to do this, just the app will be enough. True, it is similar to other platforms like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, LINE, WeChat, but they have limitations and restrictions that hinder broadcasting of messages. However, you can do this via Telegram without additional fees or restrictions.
All in all, Telegram groups and channels have their own benefits and limitations, and their usage depends on suitability with business’ priorities. However, to manage such a large number of members and subscribers is nowhere near easy. Let alone Telegram group with 200,000 people, the unlimited potential of subscribers in Telegram channels cannot be maintained with a handful of admins; businesses need more than that and a free Telegram API is not the right solution. Multichannel systems is.
Multichannel systems allow multiple messaging platforms to be managed in a single dashboard. This way, it can be operated by hundreds of administrators. Not only that, if it is something like the Qiscus Multichannel Chat, then the integration of chatbots is within reach. Reducing the need for human agents as well as delivering 24/7 customer service, chatbots are evolving to provide better experiences to our customers. The ability to connect to another platform such as Facebook Messenger, LINE, and Whatsapp will leave us and our customers waiting eagerly for an alternative to Telegram.
