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Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

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Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#61
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two small notes: - The 'mln' abbreviation was probably used to shorten the title so that it would appear complete on search engine results. - I have also seen "MM" used to shorten "million". I believe that "M" means "Molarity" in SI units, and only means millions when prepended to another SI unit abbreviation.

- I do not understand how 'mln' is more SEO than 'M' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_(unit) states that it's 'mol', but what do I know, I'm not a chemist Without context '70M' should be assumed unitless, and therefor must be interpreted as a power suffix symbol. Better yet, it falls outside the hex range, making life even better for everyone. Perhaps, if I'm really trying to be difficult, we could try to interpr…

>" - I do not understand how 'mln' is more SEO than 'M'"

There are limits to how many characters and pixels Google and Bing will display before cutting off a title and appending an ellipsis. I believe that mln was chosen for stylistic reasons, to differentiate from molarity...

>"[Wikipedia] states that it's 'mol', but what do I know, I'm not a chemist"

'M' is used for molarity (molar concentration), not moles.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molar_concentration

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#64
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The clients are open source, which provides better assurances around the E2E encryption than whatsapp.

Except who the hell even use E2EE on Telegram?

Fair enough, not me. But it's there and verified if you want it.

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#65

Why, in conversations about chat apps, does telegram get brought up so frequently as a private alternative? Is it not also mostly proprietary the same as whatsapp/messenger whatever? Is it just a matter of a dislike for facebook?

It's about a few things:

- If you have at least one alternative to Facebook installed, you lessen their network effect. People now have a choice how to talk to you. (I have another five messaging systems installed myself, but I will settle for everyone picking just their one favorite alternative to avoid a complete monopoly.)

- If you install a Facebook messenger, you know what they're going to do with your metadata. If you install Telegram, you have to be afraid that your data contents might somehow leak in the future. What's better: a definite moderate privacy invasion or a potential worse one? I have trouble answering that for myself, let alone advise others (when it's only between these two and only about privacy).

- Telegram has by far the best UX of any messenger I've ever used. Of course, this is helped by being unencumbered by any and all encryption problems by not having proper encryption, but it sure draws users.

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#66
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source re 'old accounts'? I have an account as old as you can get, and had no problems, so I'd be interested in proof of a disproportionate impact on older accounts.

What downtime? There were rumors of degraded video chat capacity, which is a nuisance but not a catastrophe.

Notifications didn't work until about 5PM PDT for me

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#68

69.99 million won't log in again when the social network they actually wanted is back up. Retentions are more important than subscriptions.

Without Subscriptions there is no scope for retention.

Telegram only directly competes with WhatsApp , not Instagram, FB platform or even Messenger. Social network is of limited value in pure play messaging platform, where everyone is just interested in 1:1 or private group messaging.

I don't think anyone cares what network they are on, they care only about where the people they want talk to are at.

Yes, it is hard to break the network effort of any social media platform, however once that critical mass is reached, people move very very rapidly.

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#69

Why, in conversations about chat apps, does telegram get brought up so frequently as a private alternative? Is it not also mostly proprietary the same as whatsapp/messenger whatever? Is it just a matter of a dislike for facebook?

Telegram server is proprietary, clients are open source. And the protocol is open, and it is quite robust despite being garden variety cryptography.

Re: Telegram founder says over 70M new users joined during Facebook outage

#70
post #12
post #3

And one day later close to none of them are messaging over Telegram

We'll see. The long-term behavior is what's more important. Now those users have the app downloaded, have it set up, and many have tried it out in a real way. All of those are major barriers to adoption, and Telegram has now overcome those barriers. I see that as significant even if it does not result in immediate full adoption of Telegram.

Indeed. And don't forget how well Telegram works compared to the competition. If anything will draw them away on convenience grounds (rather than some moral high ground, which was apparently not convincing enough or these new users would have installed an alternative sooner) it will be Telegram.
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