Telegram – Page 8 – Product Management Confabulation

Telegram, a popular instant messaging app, has introduced a new feature to give group admins on the app better control over how members engage, the latest in a series of interesting features it has rolled out in recent months to expand its appeal.

The feature, dubbed Slow Mode, allows a group administrator to dictate how often a member could send a message in the group. If implemented by a group, members who have sent a text will have to wait between 30 seconds to as long as an hour before they can say something again in that group.

The messaging platform, which had more than 200 million monthly active users as of early 2018, said the new feature was aimed at making conversations in groups “more orderly” and raising the “value of each individual message.” It suggested admins to “keep [the feature] on permanently, or toggle as necessary to throttle rush hour traffic.”

As tech platforms including WhatsApp grapple with containing the spread of misinformation on their messaging services, the new addition from Telegram, which has largely remained immune to any similar controversies, illustrates how proactively it works on adding features to control the flow of information on its platform.

In comparison, WhatsApp has enforced limits on how often a user could forward a text message and is using machine learning techniques to weed out fraudulent users during the sign up procedure itself.

Shivnath Thukral, Director of Public Policy for Facebook in India and South Asia, said at a conference this month that virality of content has dropped by 25% to 30% on WhatsApp since the messaging platform imposed limits on forwards.

Telegram isn’t marketing the “Slow Mode” as a way to tackle the spread of false information, though. Instead, it says the feature would give users more “peace of mind.” Indeed, unlike WhatsApp, which allows up to 256 users to be part of a group, up to a whopping 200,000 users can join a Telegram group.

this new Telegram groups feature is so interesting pic.twitter.com/763mHGmZ0u

— freia lobo (@freialobo) August 10, 2019

On a similar tone, Telegram has also added an option that will enable users to send a message without invoking a sound notification at the recipient’s end. “Simply hold the Send button to have any message or media delivered without sound,” the app maker said. “Your recipient will get a notification as usual, but their phone won’t make a sound – even if they forgot to enable the Do Not Disturb mode.”

Telegram has also introduced a range of other small features such as the ability for group owners to add custom titles for admins. Videos on the app now display thumbnail previews when a user scrubs through them, making it easier to them to find the right moment. Like YouTube, users on Telegram too can now share a video that jumps directly at a certain timestamp. Users can also animate their emojis now — if they are into that sort of thing.

In June, Telegram introduced a number of location-flavored features to allow users to quickly exchange contact details without needing to type in digits.

Messaging platform Telegram has added a new bunch of location-based features via an update.

Users of the latest version of the app will find an ‘Add People Nearby’ setting which they can use to quickly exchange contact details without the need to type in digits.

Coupled with a prior update, which lets Telegram users control who can see their phone number, it looks like it’ll make it possible to open a chat channel with a new contact without having to hand over your actual phone number.

Also via the ‘Add People Nearby’ contacts setting, the update lets users surface nearby public chat groups — by displaying any open chat channels in their proximity.

The setting also includes an option to ‘Create a Local Group’ — which does what it says on the tin, allowing users to set up a chat in their locality.

“This update opens up a new world of location-based group chats for anything from conferences, to festivals, to stadiums, to campuses, to chatting with people hanging out in the same cafe,” Telegram suggests, re-upping an idea that’s clocked up more than its fair share of startup tech cycles over the years. As a feature within a fully fledged messaging platform it’s more likely to find a niche groove, say for hosting ephemeral stuff like conference scuttlebutt or party chatter.

Other features added in the update include the ability to transfer admin rights of any group chat to another user with two taps.

“Telegram apps now support transferring ownership rights from any groups and channels to other users,” it writes. “Grant full admin rights to your Chosen One to see the Transfer Ownership button.”

It’s not quite a self-destruct button but the ‘pass the ownership baton’ feature could come in handy for users living in repressive states with restrictions on freedom of expression — if, for example, it allows group chat/channel admins to stay one step ahead of state forces which may target them in a bid to close conversations down.

In such a scenario, there’s the added risk that a channel admin could be personally targeted by police to extract data on group messages and other members. So enabler quicker transfers of ownership may enable comms to be maintained despite state attempts to disrupt and interfere — even if the original admin needs to temporarily delete their Telegram account to protect its data from being accessed via their device.

However, like any tech tool there’s also the opposite risk; i.e. that police could force a channel admin to transfer ownership to a group member of their choosing and then take it over and close it down.

Other features landing in the latest Telegram app update include more controls over notifications; Siri shortcuts for users of the iOS app; and tweaks to the theme picker and icon options, also on iOS.