“Telegram” is a new social media website which focuses on a qualitative communication and privacy. Even though its initial launch was in August of 2013, only in the summer of 2015 this application was successfully released on several platforms such as “Android”, “iOS”, “Windows Phone”, and its webpage. “OS X” this application was launched in September and it became the first official app accessible for the users of “OS X” and “Desktop”.
This application belongs to the non-profit organization of Germany. Founder of this company Pavel Durov is the same man who together with his brother Nikolay released “VKontakte” – the most popular social website in Russia which outdoes “Facebook” and other well-known giants. Even though “Telegram” is made by the same people, it does not have anything in common with “VKontakte”.
Right after the release of “Telegram” it was announced that this social site is visited by around 100 000 users a day and in the May of 2015 it already attracted the attention of 35 million people per month and 15 million users a day. Although streams of users are small (according to “Facebook”, “Twitter”, etc.), “Telegram” is expanding and is looking for users by giving them special functions and offers that currently can be suggested only by them. When using this application you can communicate with a group of 200 people which is convenient if one is organizing a wedding or other bigger celebration.
The amount of people is four times bigger than the amount of them who can join one conversation on “WhatsApp”, which is considered to be one of the main competitors. “Telegram” allow people to send hidden messages when there is a need to reveal private and business secrets only to certain someone. There is also a possibility to set a time limit for a sent message after which it just deletes itself. This function is a lot better than the one used in “SnapChat” where the sent video or picture automatically deletes itself when seen. This application let users share files of all types and formats up to the size of 1.5 GB. To download “Telegram” into your phone does not cost anything, it also does not have any advertising in it. According to founders of “Telegram”, it will stay free because other similar social apps are either full of advertising or cost a specific amount of money. As of the absence of ads, this application looks dull and the account is not so impressive.
“Telegram” is considered to be one of the safest “Messenger” type applications. What is more, its servers are located all around the world and because of that it sends information in the fastest way. However, the account of “Telegram” is attached to the phone number and for some people it creates a lot of trouble because, even though it allows users to show their username instead of their phone number, it causes the possible loss of phone number. If the phone is somehow lost, the account of “Telegram” is gone too. Also, this app does not collect any information about the user which is a good thing but on the other hand “Telegram” will not suggest people with the same interests, hobbies because it does not know what one user likes. So if friends do not have “Telegram” account created, it will never suggest new people to meet although under some posts people share their usernames or phone numbers but it is not the safest way to reveal personal information..
Founders of “Telegram” are straightforward as last year they presented an image in which they compare “Telegram” with “WhatsApp”. In it functions of “Telegram” are shown as better than the ones of “WhatsApp, which currently has over 900 million users even though it is not a free app. People who use “Telegram” are sharing their positive opinions about this application in this way kind of proving the superiority of it. Interesting fact is that “Telegram” announced this message a couple of months after “WhatsApp” was bought by “Facebook” for 16 million dollars and with that kind of challenging these social giants. One never knows because of the felt pressure after the successful runs of “Telegram” or because this idea was being developed, Mark Zuckerberg announced about the installment of “dislike” button on “Facebook” whose users were asking for a long period now. Mark said that he is not planning to install “dislike” button on “Facebook” and, after announcing that, he does not know when it will happen. It can be considered that this idea was like a spontaneous response to “Telegram” in order to keep users from switching over to competitors.
