Telegram founder Pavel Durov revealed on Wednesday that users can now convert their personal accounts on the messaging app into business accounts by subscribing to a monthly fee. This move allows users to include business-related information such as location and opening hours, catering particularly to small cafes and shop owners.
The newly introduced business account features include the ability to organize chats with color labels, employ automatic greetings or away messages, and utilize shortcuts for quick replies. Pavel Durov also announced upcoming business features, including the integration of AI-powered chatbots for customer service, scheduled to be launched later this month.
“Telegram Business accounts will be able to seamlessly add chatbots as their invisible secretaries to respond to all or certain chats. With AI, these chatbots can bring customer service automation to an entirely new level,” stated Durov on his channel.
In a bid to compete with WhatsApp Business, which surpassed 200 million monthly active users last year, Telegram has introduced these new features. Notably, Telegram stands out by opting for a subscription fee model for business features, while WhatsApp generates revenue based on the type and frequency of conversations.
WhatsApp, owned by Meta, introduced several business-facing features last year, including personalized customer messages and streamlined e-commerce transactions within the app. In contrast, Telegram has been expanding its business offerings over the past two years through premium subscriptions, a self-custodial crypto wallet, and premium username auctions. With over 800 million users globally, Telegram is set to launch its ad platform this month, accompanied by a revenue-sharing program for channels.
