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> In the weeks when Parler was offline, many moved to Telegram, Gab, MeWe, and other fringe platforms. Telegram? A fringe platform? I was using Telegram in mid

> In the weeks when Parler was offline, many moved to Telegram, Gab, MeWe, and other fringe platforms. Telegram? A fringe platform? I was using Telegram in middle school to discuss marijuana with a friend because we were worried Facebook Messenger would be tracking that (this was unnecessary paranoia in hindsight).

rvz 6y ago
Everything that is not Big Tech or is in direct competition to them is fringe. Even the 'idea' of self-hosting or decentralisation is fringe to them despite websites and services doing this before AWS, GCP or Azure existed.
- smt88 6y ago
  I think that Vice is using the commonly understood meaning of the term "fringe", which is that it's not very widely known or used. I can't find any evidence that Telegram is used by more than 3% of the US (which is the target market for Parler), which means it's not even in the top 16 social networks. In fact, it looks to be much less than 3% once you examine the methodology a bit. Here's a good compilation of recent studies of market share for messaging services: https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-statistics/ https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-stati...
rco8786 6y ago
Isn’t this exactly evidence that Telegram is a fringe platform? That you went to it only out of fear of being tracked on the mainstream platform?
- stephenr 6y ago
  I'd have thought it was the E2E encryption that made it desirable, not it's mainstreamness. Realistically, iMessage would be perfectly safe to discuss things like weed, because it's also E2E, and it's incredibly "mainstream".
  - rco8786 6y ago
    Then at best, this is neither evidence for nor against Telegram's "mainstream"ness right?
anigbrowl 6y ago
OK, but now compare its US usage numbers with the big social media companies. I love Telegram and have often praised it on HN, but I bet 9/10 people have never heard of it.
smt88 6y ago
Why is something mainstream just because you used it in middle school? Just the fact that you're on HN at all means that you likely have a deeper knowledge of and interest in technology than most people.

rvz 6y ago

Everything that is not Big Tech or is in direct competition to them is fringe. Even the 'idea' of self-hosting or decentralisation is fringe to them despite websites and services doing this before AWS, GCP or Azure existed.

smt88 6y ago
I think that Vice is using the commonly understood meaning of the term "fringe", which is that it's not very widely known or used. I can't find any evidence that Telegram is used by more than 3% of the US (which is the target market for Parler), which means it's not even in the top 16 social networks. In fact, it looks to be much less than 3% once you examine the methodology a bit. Here's a good compilation of recent studies of market share for messaging services: https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-statistics/ https://www.messengerpeople.com/global-messenger-usage-stati...

rco8786 6y ago

Isn’t this exactly evidence that Telegram is a fringe platform? That you went to it only out of fear of being tracked on the mainstream platform?

stephenr 6y ago
I'd have thought it was the E2E encryption that made it desirable, not it's mainstreamness. Realistically, iMessage would be perfectly safe to discuss things like weed, because it's also E2E, and it's incredibly "mainstream".
- rco8786 6y ago
  Then at best, this is neither evidence for nor against Telegram's "mainstream"ness right?

anigbrowl 6y ago

OK, but now compare its US usage numbers with the big social media companies. I love Telegram and have often praised it on HN, but I bet 9/10 people have never heard of it.

smt88 6y ago

Why is something mainstream just because you used it in middle school? Just the fact that you're on HN at all means that you likely have a deeper knowledge of and interest in technology than most people.