a tweet and the changes in WhatsApp have been enough to trigger its use.
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In 72 hours, Telegram has received 25 million new users. This 2021 is leaving us a brilliant start to the year and in the field of messaging we have two clear winners: Telegram and Signal. WhatsApp rivals that promise greater privacy have had a huge boost, sparked by various events that you probably weren’t expecting.
Far from dethroning WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging application with 2 billion users. But switching from one application to another is very easy and it only took a tweet and a few changes in the privacy policy for millions of users to have decided to give them a try. A disproportionate growth that in the case of Signal, exceeded 4,200% compared to the first week of the year, according to Sensor Tower data.
The tweet that nearly collapsed Signal
Following the new WhatsApp conditions, Elon Musk posted a tweet that simply said “use Signal.” The influence of the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is well known: That tweet sparked an avalanche of requests and Signal had to advise that it could not send the verification codes because “a lot of new people are trying to join.”
That’s @signalapp, for those who don’t speak Elon. https://t.co/NA1PV9FN1o
– Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 7, 2021
For those who still had doubts, Edward Snowden retweeted Elon recommending the use of Signal again, explaining that he uses it every day. Since then, Signal is very active in social networks trying to take advantage of the momentum generated. Recently the app has extended the call limit from 5 to 8 people and has reset the verification codes again.
In the week of January 6-10, Signal has seen about 7.5 million new installs, between Google Play and the AppStore, according to data from Sensor Tower. This represents 4,200% more than the first week of the year. It does not mean that these new Signal users will stop using WhatsApp, but it does express a desire to explore the possibility of communicating in new ways.
How it started vs how it’s going 😅 pic.twitter.com/ERiFpZUz6c
– Signal (@signalapp) January 14, 2021
WhatsApp changes and privacy
The news appeared on January 6. Six years after WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook, the messaging app will finally share the data of WhatsApp users with Facebook. Some changes that will take effect on February 8.
Many users understood this change as a risk to their privacy. Signal and Telegram, two of the applications that benefited from the announcement, explain that they are “more secure and private.” What does this mean? Mainly that do not associate data with the user.
All three messaging applications have encrypted conversations, so a priori they are equally safe, but the difference is that both Signal and Telegram do not share data with third parties. Signal does not store any records of your contacts, your conversation list, your location, photo and profile name, or information about the groups to which you belong.
To reaffirm the privacy of WhatsApp, from the messaging app they have issued a statement on social networks where they explain that WhatsApp cannot read your messages or share the location. Neither contacts are shared with Facebook and it is possible to download all our data. All be said Facebook’s new data sharing policy will not affect users in Europe for the time being.
We want to address some rumors and be 100% clear we continue to protect your private messages with end-to-end encryption. pic.twitter.com/6qDnzQ98MP
– WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) January 12, 2021
Telegram exceeds 500 million users
The growth of Telegram has been constant in recent years, but controversies have been what has triggered its use in a timely manner. In the last three days, Telegram has added 25 million new users and has reached 500 million users globally, according to Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram. To get an idea, this represents a quarter of WhatsApp users.
Taking advantage of the controversy with the changes, Durov explained that “people no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services. They no longer want to be held hostage by technology monopolies who seem to think they can get away with it as long as their applications have a critical mass. of users “.
To which he adds that “unlike other popular applications, Telegram has no shareholders or advertisers to report to. We do not deal with marketers, data miners, or government agencies. Since the day we launched in August 2013, we have not disclosed a single byte of our users’ private data to third parties. “
Telegram explains that of the new users, 38% come from Asia, 27% from Europe, 21% from Latin America and 8% from the Middle East and Africa.
The search for new communication channels
The tops of the most popular applications on the AppStore and Google Play leave no room for doubt: Signal and Telegram are the hottest apps of early 2021. The millions of users who have downloaded them contrast with a 11% drop in WhatsApp installations, during the first week of 2021 compared to the previous week. Still, this represents more than 10 million downloads for WhatsApp, according to data from Sensor Tower.
With these numbers, it is difficult to think that it will radically change the landscape of messaging applications. Although, it does seem to have more and more force the tendency to seek new communication channels, away from large technology corporations.
This position of using applications that are not in the hands of large companies such as Facebook, Twitter or Google is also the one adopted by the far-right movements, which as a result of the Trump blockade are mobilizing in secondary channels. Be that as it may, having differentiated and healthy options is always good news.
In SamaGame | WhatsApp will never be safe, but we are going to tell you a secret: Telegram won’t be either, whatever its CEO says
