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Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

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Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#81
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tried an ICO, but that went nowhere.

Yeah, the SEC filed a complaint and Telegram settled: https://www.complianceweek.com/regulatory-enforcement/telegr...

Maybe just accept USD, EUR, and GBP instead.

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#82
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange to see people switch from end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp to non-encrypted (by default) Telegram. What do I miss?

Obviously you're missing that there's more factors to a person's choice than default encryption.

The author of the parent comment specifically mentioned "change in privacy update" as the reason to switch. Until WhatsApp drops end-to-end encryption, there's not that much evil they can do. They can't read your messages. You don't need to trust WhatsApp (so far).

Telegram can have the best privacy policy, but they can always read your messages. You have to trust Telegram to do the right thing. (Except those few who opt in to use encrypted chats.)

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#83

What about ads + paid plans with no ads? I feel like that’s a great middle ground for everyone who would delete the app if it had ads. Am I missing something with that thought process?

The problem with this model from the advertisers perspective is the people with disposable income who will pay for your ad free experience are the exact people they want to show the ads to. I don’t know if telegram has this problem, but it’s certainly the problem in most ad + premium models because if I am advertising something like a car, I want the guy who can afford $10/month for her texting app to see my ad more…

Why would you think someone who actively pays to not be served ads would be a good fit to be advertised to?

Eg. My personal experience with buying products (food, software, SaaS, etc) based on ads conditioned me to actively distrust products that are heavily advertised compared to stuff that's just mentioned in reddit threads or used by friends. Would I be a good fit for ads?

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#85
I mean it makes sense if they launch an ad service for public channels. They're already filled with ads and you can't even distinguish ads from real posts. Giving these creators and advertisers a chance to have their ads placed there will be very profitable for Telegram while not raising privacy issues (the channels are a great way to distribute ads since, if you follow a Linux channel you'll likely be interested in seeing System76 ads, right?).

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#87
post #59

Didn’t WhatsApp solve this problem? Were they self-sustaining before the Facebook acquisition, or am I misremembering things?

yup, 1$/year IIRC. I'd be okay with this, as long as there's an anonymous way of paying.

IIRC it's unclear how many people ever ended up paying. The first year was free, and then (many?) people got free extensions, year after year.

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#88

I mean it makes sense if they launch an ad service for public channels. They're already filled with ads and you can't even distinguish ads from real posts. Giving these creators and advertisers a chance to have their ads placed there will be very profitable for Telegram while not raising privacy issues (the channels are a great way to distribute ads since, if you follow a Linux channel you'll likely be interested in…

Also they should start accepting donations from users. I would donate.

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#89
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Telegram a lot and would gladly pay for it. However, that route is not so easy. People in Latin American countries can't really afford to pay for apps. If they have to choose between a free WhatsApp (who everybody uses) and a fee (which can be high in real terms for poorer countries) they will choose WhatsApp. They can also do what companies like Steam and Netflix do, charge a differentiated fee by country. Som…

> However, that route is not so easy. People in Latin American countries can't really afford to pay for apps. AdGuard and Cloudflare (at least for Warp+) adjust their monthly and annual subscription rates based on location. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

This incentivizes inequality. I live in Mexico, earning 10x more than most, yet I could pay less.

Re: Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

#90
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously you're missing that there's more factors to a person's choice than default encryption.

The author of the parent comment specifically mentioned "change in privacy update" as the reason to switch. Until WhatsApp drops end-to-end encryption, there's not that much evil they can do. They can't read your messages. You don't need to trust WhatsApp (so far). Telegram can have the best privacy policy, but they can always read your messages. You have to trust Telegram to do the right thing. (Except those few who…

Why is this such a big issue? When I use Telegram in the past (and I did for years) every chat I had was encrypted. Enabling isn't that complicated.
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