Telegram Rolls Out Live Stories, Repeated Messages, and Other Creator-Focused Features

Telegram, on Tuesday, released several new features to its social media-focused instant messaging platform. There are three new features coming to users, which the company has called creator-focused. First is Live Stories that allow users to host live streaming sessions in Stories, repeating scheduled messages, an an auction-based system for the company's collectible Gifts. Interestingly, the Live Stories feature has been available in Instagram for several years now, but it appears the Dubai-headquarted company is also leaning towards it to offer more creative avenues for the creators on its platform.

Telegram Brings New Features

In a press release, the company announced the new features that all users will be able to access. Both Android and iOS users should be able to see them after updating the app to the latest version. The first feature is Live Stories. All users, as well as groups and channels that have unlocked posting Stories via boosts, can now host live video streams directly from their Story feed.

The Live Stories feature also comes with real-time interaction, allowing viewers to comment about the content of the video. The interface is pretty similar to the one available on Instagram. Viewers can also pin their comment and highlight them in coloured bubbles by spending stars. Additionally, they can also give the creator stars if they'd like. The stream host sees a Star counter, located at the bottom right corner, that shows how many stars they have received via viewer donations or highlighted comments.

The same privacy controls that apply to ordinary Stories (such as Everyone, My Contacts, Close Friends or Selected Users) also apply to Live Stories. And creators or channels that use external tools like OBS or XSplit can connect via RTMP keys to stream via their usual setup.

Telegram is also adding a new functionality to scheduled messages called Repeated Messages. With this, users can set up messages and reminders that repeat at fixed intervals. Users have fixed options to choose from including daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and so on. To set one up, users can press and hold the Send button in a chat, choose Schedule Message, then tap Repeat and pick the interval.

Finally, Telegram Gifts, the digital collectibles that users can display on their profile or move into blockchain wallets, is getting a unique update. The company said earlier many users would miss out on getting their limited-edition Gifts. Now, to ensure fairer distribution, the company will opt for an auction-based process for the rarer collectibles.

Users can place bids using stars and the top bidders in the first round will receive the rarest numbered gifts. Then, the lowered-ranked bidders will go into subsequent rounds until all items are gone. Any remaining unused bigs are refunded. Users can participate multiple times by increasing their bigs, and each auction is marked with an “Auction” banner. Bids will be visible on the same interface to show how many stars a user needs to win a collectible in that round.