For all you storytellers out there, One of the leading social messaging apps, Telegram is releasing a major feature update in July: Stories. Users will be able to choose how long their story post lives: 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours. There’s a permanent option, too.
Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, admits his initial reluctance to adding Stories to Telegram has been wiped away by user pressure after ‘years’ of requests (via 9TO5Mac). In a lengthy message, Durov announces that now it would be even easier to go viral on Telegram:
The ability to save your stories to the profile page will make Telegram profiles more informative and colorful. You will not only be able to explore more content from your closest contacts, but finally discover more information about users you connect with in groups or channel comments. Speaking of channels, they will benefit from more exposure and subscribers: once we launch the ability to repost messages from channels to stories, going viral on Telegram will become a lot easier.
There’s a user showcase of the new feature:
The 6 key features of Telegram Stories
Durov promotes the update with 6 key points: Privacy, Compact UI, Flexibility, Captions, Dual Camera Support, Optional Ephemerality. Let’s take a closer look at each.
Privacy: Users are given the flexible freedom to define their audience with precision. Instagram, for example, allows users to post stories publicly or only to a Close Friends list. Telegram takes that a step further by letting you choose between the options “everyone”, “only your contacts (with exceptions)”, “a few selected contacts”, or “a list of Close Friends”. This makes it super customizable.
Compact UI: The Telegram team promises not to intrude. ‘Stories will be placed in an expandable section at the top of your chat list, which makes them easily accessible without taking away valuable space’, points out Durov.
Flexibility: If the story posts by a certain contact are giving you the blues, you can hide them. Just move them to the ‘Hidden’ list on the Contacts section.
Captions: Pretty self explanatory. You can add more context (or links, or tags) by providing captions for your photo/video Stories.
Dual Camera Support: Interesting feature that may become popular as “poor man’s 360° camera”. ‘We’re adding the option to post photos and videos taken by the front and the rear cameras simultaneously’, the Telegram CEO promises.
Optional Ephemerality: Pretty useful for those of you who wish to set your Stories for a timespan different from the ‘traditional’ 24 hours. ‘You’ll be able to choose when a story expires – in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours – or permanently display stories on your profile page, with individual privacy settings for each’, says Durov.
The feature is in its final testing stages and will be rolled out in early July.
