My whole extended (Dutch and Swedish) family uses it, mostly due to a distaste of Facebook (so no Whatsapp or FB messenger). It has the advantage of seamlessly joining mobile and desktop versions (for normal conversations, this does not work for device-to-device 'secret' chats) and can be accessed through several free software implementations for the client (including a command line client for Linux). I'm still waiting for a self-hosted server but not holding my breath. Depending on the behaviour of Telegram, Inc. I'll eventually migrate to a self-hosted alternative or try my hand at a self-hosted server implementation.

I know about 30 people who use Telegram but 25 of those are Iranian. Seems to be more popular in countries where VPNs are common, I'm told because Telegram uses less data.

The apps are also really nice. Every platform has it's own native application that runs fast and feels great to use.

> I know about 30 people who use Telegram but 25 of those are Iranian

Speaking of which, how would Telegram avoid falling afoul if sanctions? Can they block P2P transactions?

It also seems like the best option for people to host larger discussion groups.

This is the same for me, but keep in mind that chat programs in general seem to be extremely geographically-specialized; each global region or sub-region seems to have their own.

Telegram's user base is primarily located in Iran, which is why most of the people I know who use Telegram are Iranian. Most of the people I know who use Signal are US-based, usually more tech-oriented.

I'm on the opposite side of that, most of my network uses telegram, but few use signal.

Its very big in the dev community in Tel Aviv

I was applying for jobs out there and many of the startups that were interested in me requested communicating over it instead of something like sms or WhatsApp.

Its not even a security thing, just their mode of communication

Around me, it's used a lot for larger group chats (which in Signal often did fail badly) and by people wanting desktop clients.

I know it's very popular in Russia.

also in Germany for those who don't like facebook.