Telegram is now offering business accounts to take on WhatsApp and Facebook
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Telegram has unveiled its latest effort to take on other industry giants, such as WhatsApp, Messenger and Apple, by introducing new business-focused features.
Available now, Telegram Business offers a range of tools, including customizable start pages, business hour settings, automated greeting and away messages, and AI chatbot integration.
Business users can also access pre-determined replies by typing ‘/’ into the message bar to share regularly sought-after information.
Telegram gets new business edition
Telegram says it sees the move as a natural succession to existing features that allow developers to build powerful bots and mini-apps, which it says are already being used by businesses.
To regulate customer messages, administrators can also tag threads and sort them by categories such as orders, delivery, and feedback – a feature that’s already available to all Telegram users.
Another powerful functionality includes the ability to generate chat links so that customers can flow seamlessly into a Telegram Business chat from other platforms, such as a company’s website. Telegram says that businesses can also generate QR codes for customers to scan, which helps bridge the gap between physical and digital.
Telegram Business is part of the platform’s broader monetization strategy to turn it into a profitable business – while the business-centric part of the platform is free, it requires a Premium subscription, which costs $4.99 per month.
The launch comes a few weeks after the platform’s founder Pavel Durov shared ambitious plans for the platform with the Financial Times, including that it would become profitable by 2025.
The news also coincides with another recent announcement made by the company, revealing that public channels with more than 1,000 subscribers will be able to receive 50% of the revenue from ads displayed in their channels.
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