Update: Video Conferencing (last updated, May 9th 2020)
The latest update from Telegram – Version 2.0
Voice Chats 2.0: Channels, Millions of Listeners, Recorded Chats, Admin Tools
I have been waiting to see what innovation would come out in our new positive world of video conferencing… I, for one, am no longer needing to do 6000 to 10 000 km a month of travel anymore. This has saved us some R30 000 in our Together SA CAN (NPO) budget.
Cast your mind back to my update to all Commanders and Leaders on May 9th last year. I know that anything worth something takes time, and the world of video conferencing is starting to take shape. I suggested that it would be unwise to rush into deciding what to integrate into our platforms and websites, but soon we will be able to.
The decision we face is what we are going to choose for the mass adoption of members and clients. The key to answering this is the ongoing rich feature development.
Telegram is proving by their actions that they are the best of the best. 100 million users agree this year alone, with 25 million users joining in just 72 hours due to the WhatsApp decision tree process on privacy. These are active users. In South Africa, WhatsApp has not lost users; most have two apps on their phones.
Telegram launched on August 14th 2013, meaning that in just under 8 years they have grown to 180 000+ users joining each day. If they keep this up, they will grow by 65 million users a year. The truth is, with the snowball effect, I think it will be more.
Did you know that WhatsApp’s entire development engineering team is around 50 people, while Telegrams team is made up of only 17? The founders and innovation leaders of Telegram are brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov.
This means that each member holds responsibility in the pie of some 29 million human beings. Never be fooled by the fact that innovation leaders are gifts to the world who continue to share and improve our tomorrows.
I am so proud of these human beings because they make the world a better place, and equally, I believe so does Facebook in it’s own right. Regardless of the ups and downs, and intense debates!
In this case, it comes down to three leaders in innovation, who make their decision based on their dreams and their life path, and we choose to support their platforms, or not. You can never own someone else’s gifts and artwork that they bring to the world. Let us hold them in our thoughts and appreciation for their strengths and keep adding valuable input because they do listen.
Can you imagine if the brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov and Mark Zuckerberg found common ground and brought balance to one another?
The power of this unity would benefit humanity on another level altogether. You see, the world is about technology innovation and collaboration, and the great truths of ‘good versus evil’ or on a typical day to day level, strengths, weakness, ambitions and life’s journey, which will always shine through.
Please bear with me while we test Telegram Voice Chats 2.0 on groups and channels. If you are able when we are testing, please try it out and say hi to me on the Video Chats.
WELL DONE Nikolai and Pavel, and team!
Voice Chats 2.0: Channels, Millions of Listeners, Recorded Chats, Admin Tools
For reference: 9th May 2021
Update: Video Conferencing
Hi Team,
A quick update to let you know that I am still busy with choosing the best option for us all in terms of video conferencing. We have been using Zoom internally for some time but due to highly publicised security flaws with this platform, I think it would be good to look at better alternatives. Of course, it would not be smart to integrate a system into the chosen platform, only to find that it is not suitable.
Also, I know that Telegram is currently busy working on a multi-user video conferencing feature, and this would be a sensible option for us as we recently moved to Telegram for all our communications and of course, their open source integrations are best worldwide, not to mention the security of the app.
Here is a list of top candidates which we will need to test and get feedback on:
- Skype
- Signal
- Blue Jeans (Verizon)
- Google Hangouts
- Google Meet
- Vonage
- Lifesize
- FreeConference
- Cisco Webex
- GoToMeeting
- CyberLink U Meeting
- Starleaf
- Pexip
- Microsoft Teams
- Video
- RingCentral
- Intermedia Any meeting
- ClickMeeting
- Join.me
If you want to do your own testing, please go ahead and let me know your results and recommendations?
In love, light, dreams and tunnel-vision passion!
Brian Jones (SA7)
Brian’s Passionate Desk
Brian@BriansPD.World
082 884 8024
Together SA CAN NPO
TrackBox Technologies (Pty) Ltd