Introduction:
The Telegram is one of the best communication apps across the globe. People prefer using Telegram to communicate with family and friends rather than messaging in any other applications like Facebook or WhatsApp to ensure their privacy. Even though we all are familiar with the app, most of us are unaware of its journey and revenue. In this article, we will see about ‘How Does Telegram Make Money?’.
How Does Telegram Make Money?
The Inspiration:
Pavel Durov is the founder of Vkontakte which is also known as VK. When Durov was a college student, one of his friends showed him a Facebook application for the first time. Durov was impressed with that idea and wanted to create an app for Russia which is similar to Facebook. That is the beginning of his success. As a teenager, he took some time to build a multipurpose app for a huge country like Russia. Later, he built the VKontakte application and released it on his 26th birthday, October 10, 2006. It gained huge support from the public for its privacy and secure messaging features. But, Russian Governmental officials were against this application. Because the privacy and secure chatting freedom led to many protests against the Russian government and the officials. So, the Russian Government termed some conditions for the VK app. But, Pavel replied to their terms by posting a picture of a hooded Dog, its tongue reaching out sarcastically in his official Twitter and VK account. The act of sarcasm made the government furious, and they sent SWAT to his apartment. Durov refused to open the door and his place was surrounded by the SWAT.
And then he surrendered, he sold all his Russian assets for lower rates than its net worth including the VK app. Then fled from Russia. He thought that His privacy and freedom are more important than anything. To Pavel Privacy is also a Human right. He didn’t want to be controlled by the Russian Government. So he left everything and settled on a remote island to work on a new project worth a billion dollars.
He said once to the media when the swat surrounded his apartment at that moment he wanted to call his brother. But no media is safe to call his brother during that time, and he feared he might be tracked down. At that second, he wished he had a secure and safe application that allows users a private space without worrying about tracking or recording data. Let’s read more about How Does Telegram Make Money?.
How does the Telegram make money?
The Telegram was working under the support of donations. This means people can directly donate to Telegram if they think that telegram is a worthy and useful application. Telegram used that amount and that’s how it survived since the beginning of the app. Recently, they started to make revenue by providing advertisements to the groups or channels which have higher subscribers in their group.
Revenue of the Telegram: How Does Telegram Make Money?
The founder of the Telegram Pavel doesn’t make any profitable revenue from the Telegram. According to 2020 revenue statistics, he made zero revenues from Telegram. Because, the founder Pavel only focuses on providing free, secure, and fast social messaging features to the people. Pavel says he is even paying for the Telegram out of his pocket.
The big turning
The Telegram recently got its one million active subscribers, mostly in the industry of social media, most of the individual media left with two options. Number one is to sell it to the other company, the second idea is to make the application approved by the Russian Government, and follow the social norms of Russia in the application also. When WhatsApp hit one million active users, Jan koum and Brian Acton, the real founders of WhatsApp sold the application to Mark Zuckerberg the owner of Facebook in 2014 for nineteen billion dollars. That is the only profitable option that is left to the developers. Other than that, they can legalize the company under government norms and can follow the protocols. But, the Telegram did neither of them.
When Telegram hits one million users It clearly said that they won’t sell Telegram to any other companies. Instead, they worked to find some solutions to make revenue from the app itself.
Advertising:
When the telegram wanted to make revenue from the app itself, they came across the idea of advertising in their app itself. Which became a revolutionary idea among other social media. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram.
Unlike other social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, and other search engines or apps, which loot our personal information, Telegram pledged to do no such things that will be less or no user-friendly things among the people. Telegram is always concerned about their user’s privacy, but most of the other apps gather our personal information and sell them to other companies which are across the globe. So that they can provide us advertisements by analyzing our needs through our collected Data.
EG: when you search for something in google and start to scroll Instagram or any other WiFi-connected apps, you would have encountered that Instagram will show you sponsored advertisements and other advertisements, that will trigger you to buy the product as soon as possible.
These things won’t happen when we use Telegram. Because even for advertisements, they don’t collect our private details in any way. The founder of the telegram Pavel was clearly stated that the Telegram will continue to be user-friendly by eliminating the process of collecting data and giving them to other companies across the globe. This initiative by Pavel was highly appreciated by the public. Let’s see more about How Does Telegram Make Money?.
How does it work?
Now the real question is: If they are not collecting our data… Then, how can they provide advertisements in Telegram and create revenue from it?
The answer is simple, Telegram won’t send any advertisements to our private chat or group chats. Instead, Telegram has more common channels in their app. Those channels provide more information to the public and send videos, files, or documents, etc. So, Pavel’s idea is to select an advertisement and send it across to the admin of the channel page. The admin will post the advertisement on the channel and by this action, people can look into the advertisement. If they are interested, they will click the links and see furthermore, if they are not, they have every right to ignore the chat advertisement. The Telegram now makes revenue alone in this crucial process. This action helps to both the end.
Number one, the people can be safe, and secure as well as they don’t have to bother about the advertisement or the data-collecting process.
At the Telegram team end, they can make revenue with advertisements, without violating the public terms.
Conclusion:
Now we have learnt ‘How Does Telegram Make Money?’, However, Telegram is based on cloud-based technology, which means that it still stores our data. As of now, the Telegram Team has not violated any public norms, and no cases are filed until now that it has looted the media and sent it across to any other companies. But, still, cloud-based technology is a major threat to us. And due to this, most of the countries have banned Telegram. Like Russia, which banned the Telegram app in 2018 and the Telegram again relaunched in Russia in 2020. Apart from the cloud-based technology, Telegram is safe for the users. So, as a user, we should be careful with internet resources. And according to statistics, Telegram does not make any huge revenue from its billions of users as the founder wants the Telegram to be efficient and free of cost for a person’s usage.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Is it safe to buy things from Telegram?
No, the Telegram accounts can be faked easily. So, people can create fake accounts, fake groups, or fake channels on Telegram. It leads to too much misleading information and many people who bought things like mobile, headsets, or any other products are not satisfied with the product, or they might cheat with fake delivery and fraudulent activity. If you want to buy something you can check on Instagram (Make sure that the page is an active and a real account.) So, always be alert and check that the page is legit or not before buying anything.
- Can we download movies and albums on Telegram?
Yes. Not just movies and songs, you can even download books, in PDF, EPUB, JPEG, audiobooks, and much more… It is not legal to download movie files in Telegram, but as long as the Telegram is available in the play store, we cannot stop it. Moreover, we can download even large files on Telegram. Because Telegram is based on a cloud-space multipurpose app. So, there are a lot of features in the Telegram.
- Can a stranger message me on the Telegram?
Yes. A stranger can message you on Telegram only if he knows your ID name. Any person can message in a group chat or a personal chat without showing their contact number. The contact number will be visible only if you have saved their contact number on your device. So, it’s the easiest way to connect with others when you did not get their mobile number to chat with them. As well as it is dangerous because someone can message you without any prior notice, and you even do not have the least idea who just messaged you.
