Du Rove's Channel

2024-04-26 12:50:36 This month we added 17 new features. These are not just minor improvements or bug fixes. Most of these new additions significantly expand how people use Telegram.

For example, users can explore recommended channels (Search -> Channels) similar to ones they have already joined, while infinite live locations can turn groups into small location-based networks for families and close friends. Custom emoji transform good old polls into infinitely adjustable surveys, while the newly added My Profile section (with birthdays, personal channels, username collectibles, and pinned stories) makes Telegram a much more social space. Notifications for story reactions make posting stories more fun, while new admin tools in groups simplify moderating large communities. And don’t get me started on the epic Sticker Maker we introduced 10 days ago…

17 new features in one month! Other apps consider themselves fast if they manage to add this many features in a year Open / Comment

2024-04-24 17:27:49 In February 2022, I suggested to restrict Telegram channels in Russia and Ukraine, because they were being used for military propaganda. However, both our Ukrainian and Russian users vehemently opposed restrictions, prioritizing the freedom to access information, even when it’s biased. I supported our users’ choice

We still ban accounts and bots that collect coordinates to target strikes or post direct personal information with calls to violence. We don’t want Telegram to be a tool for violence — so please report such channels/bots to us if you see them

As for general news/propaganda channels, we receive official letters from Apple that indicate that certain changes here may be unavoidable, at least for users accessing Telegram on iPhones from Ukrainian SIM cards. As I explained in my interview, to stay accessible to its users, Telegram must consider requests coming from App Stores

Were it entirely up to us, we would always give our users what they ask for: access to uncensored information and opinions so that they can make their own decisions. However, it's not always up to us Open / Comment

2024-04-23 12:06:00 A tech blogger, Pavel Fedorov, just earned $80,000+ in TON from selling his username @pavel on the Fragment auction platform.

As an early adopter of Telegram, Mr. Fedorov claimed the @pavel username 9 years ago for free. He put it up for auction a week ago. After a fierce bidding war, the crypto entrepreneur @founder, who owns @crypto and many other Telegram handles, won the auction. In a surprising twist, @founder gifted me the @pavel name earlier today.

Congratulations to Pavel Fedorov, and many thanks to @founder for the generous gift. This shows how Telegram users benefit from direct ownership over their names. $350M worth of Telegram usernames and anonymous numbers have been sold in the last 18 months.

The newest versions of Telegram allow you to see when and for how much a username was sold. To check it out, you can go to my channel’s profile and tap on @pavel or @snow. A few minutes ago, I bought @paul on Fragment for 10,000 TON — to prevent more people from giving me generous gifts Open / Comment

2024-04-17 11:24:13 The full version of my interview with Tucker is out

Open / Comment

2024-04-15 15:08:41 Our newest update lets you make your own stickers right here on Telegram — no additional image-editing software needed. Just go to the recent stickers panel and select “+”.

Creating sticker packs has never been so easy. The sticker platform has existed on Telegram since 2015, but it has now been truly democratized.

There are 16 other new features we are shipping this month, and most of them are already included in the latest version of Telegram. But I’ll tell about them later — for now, I’ll let you focus on sticker creation Open / Comment

2024-04-10 21:24:40 Telegram reached 900 million monthly users.

Half of these 900 millions users open Telegram daily. According to DataAI, Telegram is the th most used and th most downloaded app in the world.

What’s more — Telegram was cash flow positive in the 1st quarter of 2024 and is on track to become profitable this year. This solidifies our position as an independent company that puts its users first.

When we started developing Telegram 12 years ago, we believed that people are inherently smart. And smart people will always choose the freedom and quality of Telegram over the restrictions and mediocrity of legacy apps. It seems we were right.

We’ve always believed in you. Thank you for believing in us too Open / Comment

2024-03-18 20:55:12 Last week, we issued $330M worth of bonds to ensure Telegram can keep expanding at an accelerated speed.

This bond offering was oversubscribed, and we were delighted to have global funds of the highest caliber with impeccable reputations as participants. The terms of the bonds (when adjusted for the Federal Reserve rate) were the most favorable for Telegram in the history of our company.

I am proud that every time we issue bonds we get better at this process. The increased demand for our bonds shows that global financial institutions value Telegram’s growth in audience and monetization. This will further solidify our position as an independent platform that is able to challenge the “Goliaths” of our industry. Open / Comment

2024-03-13 17:48:18 All large social media apps are easy targets for criticism due to the content they host. I can’t recall any major social platform whose moderation has been consistently praised by traditional media.

The media coverage of Meta's moderation efforts has been particularly negative for most of its history. Interestingly enough, Meta was also the first social media company to have reached a trillion-dollar-plus valuation.

Telegram will likely have to go through similar growth stages before it surpasses legacy platforms. As we rapidly rise in scale and significance, we shall solve any potential challenges the same way we do everything else — with efficiency, innovation and respect for privacy and freedom of speech. Open / Comment

2024-03-06 16:58:58 This week we launched the first batch of Telegram Business features. Users can now convert their personal Telegram accounts into business accounts. As a result, they will be able to add their location and opening hours, organize chats with color labels, use automatic greeting/away messages and shortcuts for quick replies.

That’s just the start — we are shipping more Telegram Business features this month. One of these features will revolutionize how people interact with chatbots. Telegram Business accounts will be able to seamlessly add chatbots as their invisible secretaries to respond to all or certain chats. With AI, these chatbots can bring customer service automation to an entirely new level.

The new Bot APIs for developers will become available later this month, all for free. Stay tuned — more exciting stuff is coming for businesses and developers on Telegram this season. Open / Comment

2024-03-05 20:05:36 Millions of people have been signing up and sharing content on Telegram in the last hour while Instagram and Facebook were down. Interestingly, Telegram is more reliable than these services — despite spending several times less on infrastructure per user.

We also have about 1000 times (!) fewer full-time employees than Meta, but manage to launch new features and innovate faster.

Throughout 2023, Telegram was unavailable for a total of only 9 minutes out of the year’s 525,600 minutes. That’s a 99.9983% uptime Open / Comment