I think it's a pretty good sign that all these social media features continue to be added and I still don't see any impact on how I use Telegram.
I don't buy anything from Telegram. I don't see any ads. Yet I use its API and chat for a price of $0. Something has to give.
I know fewer than 5 people who have heard of Signal but almost all of my acquaintances have at least heard of Telegram. But nobody uses anything except WhatsApp.
LOL what?
So it makes sense that they build out more features for those use-cases like those using it as a media platform. I really like what they're doing. This is how you build a platform.
I'd be surprised if HNers are even aware of how other people use Telegram beyond basic chat. We tend to dismiss and hold disdain for use-cases we don't care about rather than learn about them earnestly.
The only unfortunate thing is that one of its biggest investors is russian's government wealth fund.
Which makes you wonder why would they invest in it.
Insanely so. Only Apple comes close from a “pleasurable” and physically snappy pov. A bit of an apples-oranges comparison, but still. Discord as well I guess but it’s nothing like telegram.
Telegram has this strong old-school “app-feel” in a world where everything else feels like an eventual consistency web app with 2 spinners going off at once for simple interactions (thin client with cloud-based source of truth). The details put in to even tiny things like transitions are well thought through, and they almost never feel intrusive or distracting. State is always fresh and no reloading is necessary.
Not saying I love everything about telegram, but their UX truly stands out, surprisingly even against big and well funded players like messenger.
It’s similar to the difference between physical products that feel well-considered and well built vs. creaky hollow glossy black plastic Walmart fare.
AFAIK Telegram investors (via debt bonds) are undisclosed, and I could not find a source backing that statement. Care to share?
You are confusing Telegram with Whatsapp. DST Fund managed by Yuri Milner is one of the biggest Facebook investors, at 12%.
See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/yuri-milner-faceboo... for details on its Kremlin connections.
What? I'm surprised of the positive feedback I'm seeing in the comments. To me (and to my bubble, comprised of mostly Eastern European devs) Telegram feels (and always felt) like hot garbage. Not sure exactly what Silicon Valley needs to learn from it, I think we've nailed down the recipe for shitty apps.
My experience is that invariably the more feature the more sluggish an app.
I can only conclude that Telegram must have excellent developers, or otherwise a process that has figured something out.
There's no channel browser, but there's a similarity recommendation system? It seems a bit backwards. Right now channels are impossible to find without going through a third party site.
