Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote: “Telegram keeps growing at a rate of ~50% annually in DAU.” A growth rate of 50% is huge, but Telegram is doing it with its persistence. So what has made Telegram grow at such pace even in the presence of the bigshot Messenger app Whatsapp?
Ever since Mark Zuckerberg acquired Whatsapp, things began to innovate at a slower pace. You know, those companies that get slower after acquisitions. Mark’s plan to integrate Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp means the narrowing of space for Whatsapp to grow individually. Telegram has taken full advantage of this void. But what came as icing on the cake for Telegram was the privacy issue.
Facebook suffered a massive blow to its credibility with Cambridge Analytica data scandal. On the same hand Telegram rose as a knight after refusing to bow down to the Russian Government. This is what turned the tide for Telegram. The only reason people are using Whatsapp now is because their friends have it, rather than actually enjoying the app.
Several other reasons also helped Telegram’s rise. The Hong Kong protests was under strict surveillance by China’s Government. People hence started to move towards a more secure Telegram. Brazil election saw a staggering number of 300,000 thousand accounts being banned by Facebook’s Whatsapp. There was heavy campaigning against this which helped Telegram grow in a country where Whatsapp has the majority market share. Also, Media outlets such as Barstool Sports are moving to Telegram instead of Instagram because of Instagram’s censoring policies.
Considering the fact that even the Founders are raising concerns regarding WhatsApp’s privacy, Telegram is expected to grow at the same enormous rate.
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