Telegram for payment and with ads? This is how its creator shuffles the future of the platform so that it remains free

Among the messaging applications available in Spain, few are as innovative as Telegram. This application was born 7 years ago, and since then it has been very active implementing all kinds of new features. Sometimes much earlier than his rivals, and sometimes better.

At El Android Libre we really like Telegram (and our community of readers and friends, too), an application that since its initial launch has remained completely free and without ads. This could change soon, according to the statements of its founder.

Should we be concerned about the future of Telegram? We explain what you should know.

7 years of Telegram: its 7 best features

Telegram celebrates seven years on Android with the arrival of video calls. Over the years the app has left us with seven very outstanding functions.

The future of Telegram will be free and independent, but this has a price

If there is something that fascinates us about Telegram, it is its orientation. Since its foundation, the project was created non-profit, financed almost entirely by Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram and a public figure whose opinions are usually in the center of attention.

Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram.

After announcing the last big update of 2020, we have known the direction that Telegram will begin to follow during the next months. The platform countswith 500 million active users per month, and current costs areseveral hundred million dollars a year, according to Pavel.

Who will pay for the growth? is a question that Durov receives often. In a project of this caliber, the solution is usually to make it financially self-sufficient, or to sell the company so that someone else will bear the costs (and monetize it as they see fit). Durov does not think about selling, but he does have plans to make the platform sustainable with income from the users themselves, and he has summarized his plans in 7 points that we summarize below.

1. Telegram will be independent:Durov’s typical taunt towards WhatsApp, saying that it will not be like its founders. That Telegram is necessary in the world we live in and all the paraphernalia that Durov likes to tell so much.
2. Telegram is here to stay for a long time:Encryption, simplicity, design, speed, and more to come (more hype).
3. To make 1 and 2 possible, Telegram will begin to earn income from next year. The intention is to do it according to its principles, and thanks to the user volumeThey hope it’s not an intrusive experience.
4. Everything that is free today will remain free: It was the least we expected and anything else would have been disappointing.
5. About the ads:From Telegram they consider that putting advertising in individual and group chats is a bad idea and they will have an experience without ads (at least if they manage to make it sustainable).
6. But channel ads do:Telegram channels are a social component and will integrate their own platform that helps generate profits and respects the privacy of users.
   • Our main question here is whether they will advertise on channels with fake news, piracy or illegal content. Will there begin to be control over the channels now that there will be advertisers involved?
7. Share benefits with the community:In Telegram they consider that if the platform is going to make money, it should be shared with the users who contribute to the benefits. An example is in channel advertising, where owners will be able to receive advertising revenue from their own channels. They have also commented on the possibility of creating premium sticker packs for which the artists who have created them can earn money.
   • This point is very interesting, because it creates a more competitive platform, and money in the end always attracts more money.
   • About monetization, advertising is the only way they have concrete plans, while adding premium paid features seems to be in the air without having many concrete ideas.

The decision, although it may disenchant more than one,it seems to us correct and correct. Although Durov’s obsession with keeping Telegram a free entity has always been kept safe, being maintained by a single person’s funds always poses a risk. What if Durov goes broke or something happens to him?

If we want Telegram to be truly free and independent, that its financing depended solely on Durov is a risk.

That Telegram is sustainable by itself is the best way they could take to avoid that from one day to the next it could disappear for any reason. For Durov, that’s the way of Telegram, and as the Mandalorian, let’s hope he does his best.

If you are curious to know the original message (in English) we leave it below so you can

The entry Telegram of payment and with ads? This is how its creator shuffles the future of the platform so that it remains free, it appears first in The Free Android.