Telegram update adds supergroups and pinned posts to platform

Increasingly popular messaging platform Telegram is rolling out some changes to the app that push on the line between being a messaging app and a social media platform. This action centers on group chats, a feature that users could implement to share messages with a whole group of people. Telegram is beefing them up with new supergroup functions to make message sharing even better and easier.

The first big change for group admins is an increase from 1,000 to 5,000 for the number of members who can be part of a group. With that many potential members in a group, Telegram is also giving admins the ability to pin a message at the top of the chat screen to share important information with the whole group. For users who have muted ordinary messages, they will still get the pinned message notification.

Telegram is also giving admins the ability to make a supergroup public and accessible via a short link. Using a public supergroup, anyone can view the chat history and even join to post their own message to the group. To help admins manage these new public supergroups, Telegram is adding some moderation tools to the app so messages can be quickly deleted and users blocked or reported. Hopefully these tools will help control spam and porn postings.

Telegram says any existing group can be converted into a supergroup starting today, although that is limited to areas where the update is already available which includes the U.S. and Europe. If you want to check out Telegram, be sure to hit the Play Store link below.