Telegram users can now convert personal accounts to business ones
Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov, has shared some exciting news for users looking to upgrade their personal accounts to business ones. By paying a monthly fee, users can now access features that rival those of WhatsApp Business, which boasted over 200 million monthly active users last year. Small businesses like cafes and shops will find Telegram's new business accounts particularly helpful.
Features and upcoming additions
Some of the cool features that come with Telegram's business accounts include color-coded chat organization, quick reply shortcuts, and automatic greetings or away messages. Durov also mentioned on his channel that more business features are on the way this month, such as AI-backed chatbots for customer service. He said, "Telegram Business accounts will be able to seamlessly add chatbots as their invisible secretaries to respond to chats. With AI, these chatbots can bring customer service automation to a new level."
Telegram's growth strategy and ad platform launch
Over the past couple of years, Telegram has been working hard to grow its business through premium subscriptions, self-custodial cryptocurrency wallets, and auctioning premium usernames. With a user base of over 800 million people worldwide, the chat app is planning to launch its ad platform this month. This platform will feature a revenue-sharing program for channels, setting it apart from WhatsApp's revenue model, which is based on conversation types and chat frequency.
What about WhatsApp?
Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp rolled out several business-oriented features in 2023. The list includes personalized customer messages, as well as tools for completing e-commerce transactions sans leaving the app.
