Telegram is joining the list of social media and instant messaging apps that have the Stories feature. While the format was introduced by Snapchat back in 2013, it eventually trickled down to other apps due to its immense popularity. The feature allows users to post updates about their recent activity, which usually disappear after 24 hours.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced on his channel that Telegram Stories will be making their way to the app in early July, adding that the feature is in the “last testing phase. Telegram Stories are expected to offer an experience similar to other apps, however, not without some tweaks and perks from the company.
According to Durov, initially, they were not in favor of rolling out Stories as the feature is “already everywhere.” But they are finally doing it because Stories account for more than half of all feature requests Telegram receives.
Telegram Stories will be present at the top of the chat list with an expandable UI designed to keep it compact when not in use. You will be able to choose whether a story expires in 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours, and display stories permanently on your profile page as well.
While posting a story, you’ll be able to record videos using your phone’s front and rear cameras simultaneously, add captions, add emojis, and tag people. Speaking of privacy, Telegram will give you options to choose whether your stories will be viewable by everyone, only your contacts, a few selected contacts, or some close friends.
Durov said that Telegram will allow channels to repost their messages as stories, allowing them to “benefit from more exposure and subscribers” once the feature goes live. “Overall, following our internal tests of Stories, even the skeptics on our team started to appreciate this feature. We can no longer imagine Telegram without it.”
Speaking of its rivals, the Stories format has already been adopted by a number of social apps such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Tikok. However, YouTube and LinkedIn which also tried to go with the flow couldn’t taste much success with the feature. Twitter also launched its own version of stories called Fleets but pulled the plug on it just after nine months.