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Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

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Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#31

Post by fvjft »

AiaMD13 wrote: post #20
sz4kerto wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Signal has a far superior user experience. Why? I think Telegram is cool, not because of privacy but because of overall UX (speed, battery usage, reliability, etc.) Is Signal way superior in anything apart from privacy?

Can't agree more. Have been using Telegram since I quit using Facebook, and it proved to be far more reliable then even whatsapp. The only problem is that most of people I know prefer and use whatsapp and it's been challenging fo me to maintain all the contacts in one app.

In my experience Telegram has an outage every couple of months, while WhatsApp only drops dead once a year or so.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#32

Post by dpq »

nextstep wrote: post #8

Please, please, please use Signal instead. And tell your friends! Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims, but even if you trust the company, Signal has a far superior user experience. Telegram’s private messages are not enabled by default, and when you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point.

> Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims

My love for the word "dubious" cannot be overstated. While there's been a lot of solidly-seeming (I am not a security researcher) criticism of TG security infrastructure, I don't recall a single instance of chats or metadata being actually compromised so far.

> Signal has a far superior user experience.

Not in this Universe, unfortunately. Signal is borderline unusable, and if I have the choice of pushing Signal vs pushing Telegram, I'll choose the latter - simply because it provides a much much better experience and will be able to retain the audience to a better degree, while people who install Signal will probably go back to Whatsapp/Messenger.

> When you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point

Such as? The only feature that comes to mind is the absence of sync to other devices (which is kinda expected). Basically all one-on-one chat features are retained in Telegram's secret chats, and keep in mind that Signal doesn't offer these features to begin with.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#33

Post by roel_v »

lucideer wrote: post #24
nextstep wrote: post #8

Please, please, please use Signal instead. And tell your friends! Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims, but even if you trust the company, Signal has a far superior user experience. Telegram’s private messages are not enabled by default, and when you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point.

> Signal has a far superior user experience No. It doesn't. If you're going to advocate for an open alternative, at least be intellectually honest about it's pros/cons. You might have gotten used to Signal, and be unfamiliar with Telegram (and sure, much of usability has an element of subjectivity to it), but... the above statement simply isn't true in the general sense. Personally, I tend to try and advocate for Rio…

Having just installed Signal yesterday, in what respect is it worse than Whatsapp (from a UI pov)? The only thing I found so far is the bad integration with contacts.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#34

Post by supernes »

I cannot understand why people insist on hating Telegram for their choice of tradeoff between convenience and privacy. People who care enough about the subject should know when and whether to use it for their communications. For everyone else, it's an outstanding alternative to Messenger/WhatsApp and Viber.

Edit: I'd also like to add that maybe we need to make a distinction between the notions of privacy and secrecy. Privacy as understood by the majority of people is a broader concept than what more technically inclined people associate with the matter. I believe that then Telegram's decisions and use case can become clearer.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#35

Post by reitanqild »

purerandomness wrote: post #16
nextstep wrote: post #8

Please, please, please use Signal instead. And tell your friends! Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims, but even if you trust the company, Signal has a far superior user experience. Telegram’s private messages are not enabled by default, and when you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point.

Telegram is used primarily as a replacement for Facebook Groups, not for one-to-one communication. Signal doesn't offer Groups, so it's not something people will switch to. (Signal has Group Chats however, which is something completely different)

Using Telegram heavily for both one-to-one, groups and channels.

I don't know if it is different in other markets but this seems to be common in my circles.

Oh, and BTW: The security situation around Telegram continues to confuse me so I'm personally only recommending it for postcard-style messaging.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#36

Post by roel_v »

purerandomness wrote: post #16
nextstep wrote: post #8

Please, please, please use Signal instead. And tell your friends! Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims, but even if you trust the company, Signal has a far superior user experience. Telegram’s private messages are not enabled by default, and when you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point.

Telegram is used primarily as a replacement for Facebook Groups, not for one-to-one communication. Signal doesn't offer Groups, so it's not something people will switch to. (Signal has Group Chats however, which is something completely different)

What is the difference?

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#37

Post by ymolodtsov »

nextstep wrote: post #8

Please, please, please use Signal instead. And tell your friends! Telegram has made very dubious privacy claims, but even if you trust the company, Signal has a far superior user experience. Telegram’s private messages are not enabled by default, and when you are using private messaging, numerous other features are disabled defeating the point.

Even cloud synced messages alone will be a better user experience for the majority of users.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#39

Post by dpq »

yes_man wrote: post #19

Telegram's end goal is to create value for shareholders. Eventually they will profit from user privacy violations. Not to parrot other comments, but we should all use Signal. Its' existence isn't based on investment dollars that expect returns in more dollars.

> Eventually they will profit from user privacy violations.

Where do you get this from? IIRC their plan is to launch a Internet platform TON and a cryptocurrency Gram, and make money off transactions. As far as monetization plans go, this one is a very long shot, risky and brilliant IMO.

Re: Telegram gets 3M new signups during Facebook apps’ outage

#40

Post by ymolodtsov »

botto wrote: post #25

Telegram is scary and questionable. Inventing your own encryption is never the answer and reeks of horrible understanding of security, at this stage there is no reason they should not adopt a standard of communication like Signal protocol. Signal app itself is ok, it's a little....annoying as it requires a phone number and the UX needs some love. Keybase is great, It has ways of verifying you across multiple services…

We still haven't seen any examples of Telegram being compromised.
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