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As someone who knew Durov personally, I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads, and even more unlikely that users will be manipulated a

As someone who knew Durov personally, I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads, and even more unlikely that users will be manipulated and/or tracked in any way. If there's one thing he does well it's respecting his users. He knows what "we're earning enough to cover our expenses" means. The company is privately owned so no one will be pushing him into anything either. Many popular Telegram channels already have ads in them, posted by their creators. My understanding is that Telegram will be taking control of this by acting as an intermediary, taking a cut and possibly deciding what goes through. Thinking of it, it makes sense, and doesn't alter the UX at all for the average user.

balozi 6y ago
Come on, ALL UX is ruined by addition of ads. I bet there is not a single user of any app anywhere ever that can claim that their UX was bettered by ads. Also, users WILL be have to manipulated and/or tracked for the purpose of monetization via ads. By now everyone is well acquainted with these monetization techniques, so no point in pretending otherwise.
- tomcam 6y ago
  Disagree. I like musical instruments. I don’t mind ads for guitar companies. I like embedded systems. I love seeing ads for new esp32 variants or low cost e-ink screens. Also I never object to women’s swimsuit ads. Just sayin’.
  - amelius 6y ago
    Still, ads will distract you in moments that you don't want to be distracted. If you like guitars, you can visit a good, large online guitar store, say once a week, and you will always be up to date. Same for swimsuits.
    - tomcam 6y ago
      Thanks for telling me how my attention span works. Your insights are lacking but at least you make up for it by being condescending.
    - SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
      The service must be sustained somehow. Either through ads or fees. I don't understand why people act like they can avoid ads, and enjoy a free service. Hopefully there is a paid option that hides ads. Would you pay for it?
dred_prte_rbrts 6y ago
It's a trap. "Enough to cover our expenses" means the ad rates have to be high enough and for them to be high enough the advertisers have to get good performance. We'll see how well this comment ages.
onetimemanytime 6y ago
>>As someone who knew Durov personally, I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads The Google founders were pretty idealistic when they started too and no doubt many swore by their intentions.
- grishka 6y ago
  Google has investors though. Telegram is wholly owned by Durov. I've also seen him run monetization at VK. Basically: there was one developer responsible for ads, and he sat in another office together with financial staff because of the different values.
  - onetimemanytime 6y ago
    Now he doesn't.
    - grishka 6y ago
      Now who doesn't what?
leppr 6y ago
> I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads [...]. If there's one thing he does well it's respecting his users. If there's one thing Telegram isn't good at, it's having a UX that respect its users. If that was the case, it would be possible to opt out of notifications from group chats and still receive notifications for private chats, but it's not. This forces one to juggle with multiple accounts if they want to both join public groups and also use it for regular chats. They already put engagement over respect for their users, I don't have much confidence they won't ruin it even more with ads.
- grishka 6y ago
  > If that was the case, it would be possible to opt out of notifications from group chats and still receive notifications for private chats, but it's not. Uh, it's possible, and has always been? In the Android client at least, there's a group of big honking toggles under "notifications and sounds" that do just that.
- TheChaplain 6y ago
  Huh? I can mute groups very easily, and it has been possible for almost as long as they existed AFAIK. TG has in my opinion the best UI and functionality of all chat-apps available too.
- ohgodplsno 6y ago
  On Android, each chat creates a different notification group that you can customize through the system settings. On iOS's half baked implementation of notifications, not sure.

balozi 6y ago

Come on, ALL UX is ruined by addition of ads. I bet there is not a single user of any app anywhere ever that can claim that their UX was bettered by ads. Also, users WILL be have to manipulated and/or tracked for the purpose of monetization via ads. By now everyone is well acquainted with these monetization techniques, so no point in pretending otherwise.

tomcam 6y ago
Disagree. I like musical instruments. I don’t mind ads for guitar companies. I like embedded systems. I love seeing ads for new esp32 variants or low cost e-ink screens. Also I never object to women’s swimsuit ads. Just sayin’.
- amelius 6y ago
  Still, ads will distract you in moments that you don't want to be distracted. If you like guitars, you can visit a good, large online guitar store, say once a week, and you will always be up to date. Same for swimsuits.
  - tomcam 6y ago
    Thanks for telling me how my attention span works. Your insights are lacking but at least you make up for it by being condescending.
  - SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
    The service must be sustained somehow. Either through ads or fees. I don't understand why people act like they can avoid ads, and enjoy a free service. Hopefully there is a paid option that hides ads. Would you pay for it?

dred_prte_rbrts 6y ago

It's a trap. "Enough to cover our expenses" means the ad rates have to be high enough and for them to be high enough the advertisers have to get good performance. We'll see how well this comment ages.

onetimemanytime 6y ago

>>As someone who knew Durov personally, I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads The Google founders were pretty idealistic when they started too and no doubt many swore by their intentions.

grishka 6y ago
Google has investors though. Telegram is wholly owned by Durov. I've also seen him run monetization at VK. Basically: there was one developer responsible for ads, and he sat in another office together with financial staff because of the different values.
- onetimemanytime 6y ago
  Now he doesn't.
  - grishka 6y ago
    Now who doesn't what?

leppr 6y ago

> I'd say that it's very unlikely that the UX will be ruined by ads [...]. If there's one thing he does well it's respecting his users. If there's one thing Telegram isn't good at, it's having a UX that respect its users. If that was the case, it would be possible to opt out of notifications from group chats and still receive notifications for private chats, but it's not. This forces one to juggle with multiple accounts if they want to both join public groups and also use it for regular chats. They already put engagement over respect for their users, I don't have much confidence they won't ruin it even more with ads.

grishka 6y ago
> If that was the case, it would be possible to opt out of notifications from group chats and still receive notifications for private chats, but it's not. Uh, it's possible, and has always been? In the Android client at least, there's a group of big honking toggles under "notifications and sounds" that do just that.
TheChaplain 6y ago
Huh? I can mute groups very easily, and it has been possible for almost as long as they existed AFAIK. TG has in my opinion the best UI and functionality of all chat-apps available too.
ohgodplsno 6y ago
On Android, each chat creates a different notification group that you can customize through the system settings. On iOS's half baked implementation of notifications, not sure.