Telegram: The one who challenges rich giants with strategy is completely free

In recent days, people have talked a lot about the power of tech giants like Facebook or Twitter. While Twitter blocked President Donald Trump from making posts on the social network, Facebook forced WhatsApp users – a popular messaging app they acquired – to share data. Most importantly, Facebook had a scandal about unauthorized sharing of user information with data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica just a few years ago.

The above shows that the world’s leading technology companies appear to have too much power over users. In that context, Telegram – a completely free messaging software with no ads and specifically not using user information for commercial purposes – emerged as a worthy alternative.

Telegram’s authors are brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the duo of the author duo of the very famous social network VK in Russia. The Durov brothers are famous for being extremely talented, when Nikolai won three gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and received his doctorate. Mathematics majors in 2 universities are University of Saint Peterburg and University of Bonn. Meanwhile, his younger brother Pavel also graduated with an excellent degree in Literature from the University of Saint Peterburg. Two genius minds combined to create a “messaging tool” completely different from famous software like Skype or WhatsApp’s.

Durov Brothers (Photo: All Russia, Russia Culture)

In 2013, Telegram was officially launched, but not appreciated by experts, when the messaging software market had big names but WhatsApp’s, Line, Viber or Skype. These softwares provide almost all the features that users need, such as speed of sending and receiving messages quickly, free video calls … Along with that is the application mentioned above. Having a strong development team and stable user base, not many people think Telegram can do something about it.

However, step by step, this messaging software gradually wins the trust of users, especially after successive scandals about using user information. First of all, registering to use Telegram is extremely simple. Users only need to register with a phone number, verify by SMS and can use their account on multiple devices, with messages synced. Registration takes place very quickly and conveniently, while ensuring the security of the account for users.

With the features already in the above software, Telegram provides almost complete. From creating group chats, making phone calls, sending geolocation … all are fully included by the developers of Telegram. However, if Facebook’s Messenger app is limited to a maximum file exchange size of 25 MB, Telegram allows users to share files up to 2 GB in size.

In addition, sent messages can be edited within 48 hours of being sent and can be deleted at any time, making it possible for users to correct spelling errors and delete mistakenly sent messages. . Although this is not a new feature when it has been applied on Skype for a long time, it brings great convenience to Telegram users.

Telegram allows users to upload files up to 2GB (Image: gHacks)

Next, the developers identified Telegram as a product that is not controlled by the authorities of any country, as evidenced by the fact that they did not disclose where to rent offices or to locate servers, even The name of the legal entity that rents the place of operation is also an unknown. Furthermore, users may use their nicknames in order not to disclose personal information; The messages are encrypted using the MTProto protocol. In this way, Telegram’s developers believe that neither government nor hackers can access user data. The Durov brothers believe that the security of user information is the most important thing for Telegram.

In addition, Telegram does not have any advertising and no ads like other apps, although this software is completely free. Many other messaging software uses too many ads, causing annoyance for users; However, Telegram ignored this extremely lucrative source of money to keep its application “clean”. The Durov duo are currently using the money from the resale of shares in VK as well as contributions from a number of other sponsors. In the future, if this funding runs out, developers may add optional paid features to keep apps running. However, up to the present time, Telegram is still a “shiny” advertising application.

Finally, thanks to the open source API, Telegram attracts a lot of people to create extremely unique stickers. Although not the first company to introduce this feature, allowing users to customize and create their own sticker sets, helping Telegram attract many people to use this software in the last year. Any user can create their own personalized sticker set, instead of just a certain number of creators like with other messaging applications.

A set of stickers created by Telegram (Image: StickerTelegram)

Indeed, with its unique features, over the years, the number of Telegram users increased rapidly. In October 2013, Telegram announced it had 100,000 active users. Just 2 years later, the number of users increased to 60 million with 12 billion messages sent daily.

In 2018, the number of people using Telegram increased 5 times compared to 2015, reaching 300 million. And as soon as Twitter blocked Donald Trump’s account as well as Facebook asked WhatsApp’s users to share information, the number of Telegram users reached 500 million, too impressive for an application not even. advertising clown.

Even so, Telegram still has a lot to improve. Since their content is not moderated, a lot of unhealthy content is shared through group conversations. This can completely assist criminals to use Telegram for many unhealthy purposes, causing great damage to society in the future.

In addition, there were hackers who got user information from Telegram, though not much, but also showed that this application is not completely secure for user information. However, it is undeniable that Telegram has been doing a very good job of a simple messaging application, easy to use but has a very high security and creativity when compared to other messaging software. similar news in the market.