WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook have been down multiple times. However, perhaps none will be as remembered as October 4. Not only because of how long it was (6 hours), but also because of the severe failure that occurred throughout their network. Of course, these types of situations are taken advantage of by the competition, especially in the messaging sector. And it is that many found in Telegram a temporary lifeline .
According to Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, they added 70 million new users thanks to the fall of WhatsApp . The huge figure shows the urgency that so many people had to regain communication. And it is that beyond using WhatsApp to talk with loved ones, the platform is also used – erroneously – for work communication; even in an age where there are multiple tools specifically designed to serve that purpose.
Although welcoming 70 million users in a matter of hours is an achievement that many applications see as a distant dream, the question that remains in the air is: how many of them will remain active? Possibly a good chunk only signed up for the service while Facebook and its services were coming back to life. Without a doubt, it would be interesting to know what was the level of retention that Telegram had with the newcomers.
“I am proud of how our team handled the unprecedented growth as Telegram continued to run smoothly for the vast majority of our users. That said, some users in America may have experienced slower speed than usual , as millions of users from these continents rushed to sign up for Telegram at the same time, “Durov mentioned (via TechCrunch).
Telegram leans on the disgrace of WhatsApp, again …
A curious point is that this is not the first time that Telegram relies on the difficulties of WhatsApp to grow. At the beginning of this year, after the new terms of service of WhatsApp were announced, 25 million people joined Telegram overnight. Of course, the fever did not last long, as WhatsApp backed down to avoid a bigger problem and the majority ended up accepting the new rules.
