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Telegram announces 11 new features to boost messaging

Users can also access Similar Channels from a channel’s profile…reports Asian Lite News

Encrypted messaging platform Telegram has rolled out 11 new features to enrich communication for over 800 million of its monthly active users.

To simplify channel discovery, users now have access to a list of similar public channels upon joining a channel. This feature is driven by automatic selection based on similarities in subscriber bases, making it easier for users to find content aligned with their interests, the company said in an update.

Users can also access Similar Channels from a channel’s profile.

“Users now have the power to amplify the reach of stories from friends and favourite channels with just two taps. The option to add extra content such as text, audio, or video comments enhances the storytelling experience. Reposting is restricted to stories visible to ‘Everyone,’ ensuring privacy protection,” said Telegram.

When posting a story, you can now add a video message to supply commentary or simply make a face. These messages can be resized, moved around the screen, and placed along the time axis, providing limitless creative possibilities for users to express themselves

Telegram Premium users now have access to even more customisation options such as “Profile Colours” which allows users to set a unique colour combination with logos for their profiles.

While anyone can set custom wallpapers for individual chats, Premium users can now extend their personalisation to both sides of the conversation.

“The voice-to-text feature, once exclusive to Premium users, is now available to all users. With the ability to convert up to 2 messages per week into text, this feature facilitates quick understanding of audio content or even translation in different languages,” Telegram informed.

Channels with story-posting capabilities can now access detailed statistics, including views, shares, and reactions.

“Channel admins now have a revamped interface for managing reactions. Channels can include custom emoji in addition to standard reactions, allowing for a more personalized and engaging user experience,” said the company.

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RCS subscribers likely to jump 200% by 2026

The RCS (also called modern SMS) technology is being promoted by Google in the face of still competition from Apple iMessage…reports Asian Lite News

Despite tough competition from OTT messaging apps, the total number of RCS (Rich Communication Services) subscribers will grow from 1.2 billion in 2022 to 3.8 billion by 2026, accounting for 40 per cent of global mobile subscribers, a new report showed on Wednesday.

This represents a growth of over 200 per cent, according to Juniper Research.

The RCS (also called modern SMS) technology is being promoted by Google in the face of still competition from Apple iMessages.

RCS is a next-generation SMS protocol that upgrades text messaging with features like payments, high-resolution photo and file sharing, location sharing, video calls and much more.

It provides advanced business messaging services, such as chatbots and payments.

However, OTT messaging apps, which control their own development, will provide fierce competition for rich-media business messaging traffic.

To combat this threat, operators must promote the greater reach of RCS to subscribers over the fragmented OTT ecosystem to demonstrate its value, the report noted.

Despite the competition from OTT apps, the research forecasts global operator revenue from RCS will grow from $230 million in 2022 to over $4.6 billion by 2026.

To capitalise on this growth and combat OTT messaging competition, it recommends RCS providers offer a simple price-per-message monetisation model that has already been established through the use of SMS business messaging.

By 2026, the research anticipates that 95 per cent of RCS business traffic will remain on this model.

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