It’s only just getting started, but 2021 looks like it’s going to be a pivotal year for social apps. The world’s most popular app, WhatsApp, just announced changes to its privacy policy that will increase Facebook’s powers to use your data. Meanwhile, one of the world’s most controversial apps, Talk, was bluntly dropped from the internet this week. Unsurprisingly, this is great news for rival chat app Telegram.

According to founder and CEO Pavel Durov, Telegram has gained 25 million new users in the past 72 hours by surpassing 500 million monthly active users. For comparison, the app averaged around 1.5 million new users per day in 2020, which was already pretty impressive. Durvov says this is primarily down to his company’s simple promise of privacy and security.

The bulk of new users come from Asia (38%), Europe (27%) and Latin America (21%), with around 8% entering the MENA region (Middle East and South Africa). North). While not explicitly noted in Durov’s article, there are likely a fair number of Talking orphans joining Telegram – although there are differences between the functions of the two apps, it is said that d Former Parler users are heading to encrypted messaging apps in search of a more private system. Platform. Signal has seen a similar increase in popularity for the same reason.

Telegram recently outlined its plans to generate revenue, but promised that user privacy will not be compromised. Ads will only be used in a multi-channel, and paid premium features will be aimed at businesses and power users. Anything you currently use for free will remain free. There was a little controversy earlier this month when it turned out that the app’s proximity feature could be used to find a user’s exact location rather than an approximation, but it does. comes with the territory of an opt-in location sharing feature – use at your own risk.