The instant messaging service Telegram has reached 500 million active monthly users. Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently confirmed this on his personal Telegram channel (@Durov). “In the first week of January, Telegram exceeded 500 million monthly active users. After that, it continued to grow: 25 million new users have come to Telegram in the last 72 hours alone, ”said Durov.
Telegram has always been a growing app among many competitors. Thanks to its open source and feature-rich nature, the app has garnered a number of users over the years since it launched in August 2013. The app received many new users after a new WhatsApp privacy policy wreaked havoc in the tech community.
Durov also shared the demographics of Telegram’s recently joined users. “These new users came from all over the world – 38% from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America and 8% from MENA,” he added in his post.
How will Telegram change after it has 500 million active users?
Durov had mentioned the app’s new monetization plans for the future in a previous post. The plans included the provision of paid premium features for business and primary users, while all existing Telegram features remain free. The app also plans to bring ads to the platform, but only for large groups and channels to keep private chats and groups ad-free.
“This means we can continue to innovate and grow over the decades. We’ll introduce tons of new features and welcome billions of new users. In doing so, we remain independent and remain true to our values and redefine how a technology company should work, ”said Durov in the post on December 23, 2020.
The post had indicated that Telegram would implement its monetization plans as the app hit the 500 million user mark. Now it remains to be seen how quickly the premium features and channel ads will hit the platform. We should receive more updates from Telegram soon.
