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by dispense 4494 days ago
"800,000 users from the Netherlands and counting." https://twitter.com/telegram/status/437275755312345089

This is speculative, but I think Telegram actually has enough momentum at the moment to overtake WhatsApp as the main instant messaging service in the Netherlands--if they are able to adequately handle the massive amount of new registrations. The general public definitely seems to be uncomfortable privacy-wise with the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook. So much for privacy being dead.

https://twitter.com/search?q=telegram%20lang%3Anl&src=typd&f... Telegram is definitely a trending topic on Twitter in the Netherlands.
4 comments
pearjuice 4493 days ago
It is a trend, exactly that. Because all major news outlets in the Netherlands are reporting on the Whatsapp downtime, they try to add some perspective with the Facebook buy and poke Telegram. This results in people checking out Telegram as the new trendy thing. Let us say 4/10 contacts use Telegram now. Why bother if 60% of your interaction is still on Whatsapp? Unless everybody switches it will just be a novelty app.
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vijayr 4493 days ago
The thing that bothers me is this - any service that we use and are happy with, can be bought by FB. Then FB would own all of that data - so it doesn't matter if we don't use FB - first instagram, now whatsapp (there are probably others that I can't remember). This is good for the founders of whatsapp - not sure about the users though. It is hard to say no to boatload of cash, I guess.
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atmosx 4493 days ago
What is your concern exactly? If it's privacy, from state level organizations like NSA you shouldn't be using mainstream IMs anyway. If it's just Zuckerberg then Telegram is fine and WhatsUp is not (anymore). If it's none of the above, then you're fine.
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fractalsea 4493 days ago
I think the point is is that even if you don't use mainstream services, than there's nothing stopping Facebook buying up whatever you were using at some point in the future.
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atmosx 4493 days ago
Well, if the conversation is encrypted and the connections are routed through tor, you don't really care who intercepts what.
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higherpurpose 4493 days ago
If only their messages were secured end-to-end by default. Then it wouldn't be just another insecure Whatsapp clone I have no interest in.
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dispense 4493 days ago
At least they do offer the option relatively seamlessly (or so I hope). It might be cumbersome and awkward to explain to your non-tech friends why you want to enable it, but at least it's an option (although not necessarily proven to be secure).
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bowlofpetunias 4493 days ago
Most people I know in the Netherlands switched to Telegram within 48 hours after the announcement.

Which currently appears to be dead, BTW.

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