After a meticulous review of user feedback, and internal testing, Pavel Durov, CEO of leading messaging platform Telegram, has announced the launch of the highly requested Stories feature. Expected to go live in early July, this feature is being heralded as a significant milestone which will transform how users interact on the platform.
Stories Feature: Unique to Telegram
Durov highlighted that they received numerous feature requests for adding stories, resembling Snapchat Stories or Instagram’s ‘Highlights’. As a tactic to continually elevate user experience without simply following trends, Telegram was initially hesitant. However, listening to user feedback is intrinsic to Telegram’s DNA and resulted in a compromise that incorporates various unique features conceptualized “in the Telegram way”.
Building Blocks of Telegram’s Stories
The anticipated launch of Stories on Telegram prioritizes six key aspects: Privacy, Compact UI, Flexibility, Captions, Dual Camera Support and Optional Ephemerality.
Enhanced Privacy Control
Addressing one of the most prominent concerns related to social media features today—Privacy—Telegram users will have granular control over their audience. Users can decide who views their stories; options include all contacts (excluding exceptions), selected few contacts or only close friends.
Compact UI for Easy Accessibility
The stories will be located atop the chat list for effortless access, leading to an intuitive and compact User Interface (UI).
Adaptive Flexibility with User Control
To keep UIs clean and user-centric, Telegram users can hide any contact’s story thus providing additional flexibility.
Engaging Captions with Editing tools
Aiming to enhance the storytelling experience, the stories feature not only comes bundled with robust photo and video-editing tools but also supports captions enabling creators to add more context through links or tags.
Support for Simultaneous Dual Cameras Usage
Stories on Telegram will support photos and videos utilizing both front and rear cameras simultaneously pushing multi-perspective storytelling possibilities.
Optional Story Expiration
Users can decide when their story disappears ranging from six hours up to 48 hours or alternatively choose perpetual display — similar to Instagram’s Highlights feature.
Employee Feedback & Further Surprises in Store
CEO Pavel Durov mentioned that initial internal tests were met with positive sentiments, convincing even skeptics amongst their team about the invaluable addition of this feature. Further testament came from him accepting that “Telegram can no longer imagine the messaging service without” this feature. Finally promising further compromises by sharing that there are even “more surprises” in store for users.
Market Implications and Future Outlook
With competing platforms like WhatsApp already having this feature quite a while now, Telegram’s belated but unique take on stories could potentially reposition them within the market. This savvy move beyond simple communication towards more social interactions could stimulate increased engagement making it more than just a messaging app.
This landmark addition is seen by Durov himself as something that would “herald a new era on Telegram”. Only time will tell if these changes enable going viral on telegram any easier as these updates are expected to increase exposure for channels potentially influencing subscriber count drastically.
