How did Telegram become so popular with the Esperanto community?

Question

I'm amazed that on telegramo.org there are over 50 groups in Esperanto, but why did Esperanto speakers specifically choose to gather on Telegram? What made this messaging system more appealing than others with even more users like WhatsApp or more popular chat sites on the web?

Answer 1

I can think of several factors:

• It is easy to install on a computer and on a phone
• Groups are public and it is possible to read past messages, so it is a good introduction to conversational written Esperanto
• The ability to send voice message is a good tool for training in pronunciation
• Stickers help beginners to communicate when they don't feel confident enough
• It is easy to create a new group for any theme or subject, so people are not locked in a subject. Esperantists can actively speak about what they are interested in and find people who share the same interest
• Everybody was nice (now there are 880 members)

Answer 2

I've heard that Telegram is more secure than other messengers. I don't know many details, but people say it uses some (end-to-end?) encryption and other means to leverage security.

As far as I know, Esperanto speakers have often been in trouble during the World War II mostly because many of them were Jewish. Also, as Esperanto is a constructed language, its speakers may often be victims of bad attitude as some people think that Esperanto is sort of 'bad' for whatever reasons.

This may make Esperantists feel like they're being hated, which may lead to attempts to protect themselves from any harm using Telegram's secure encryption.