Telegram adds support for hashtags and mentions in group chats

Telegram is adding support for hashtags and mentions in group chats in its apps. Also, users in group chats can now quote a previous chat in a reply. According to Telegram, the functions should bring ‘order’ out of the chaos that group chats sometimes are now.

If a user has a username on Telegram, a mention ensures that that user receives a push notification, even if that user has notifications turned off for that conversation, says the company behind Telegram. Hashtags allow users to indicate what a post is about and thus make it easier to find posts on the same topic later, the company believes.

The quote function should make it easier to respond to a message that has been posted a while ago and is therefore no longer the last message in a group chat. The features should make group chats “more like 2015” according to Telegram.

Telegram is a chat program that was briefly in the spotlight as an alternative to WhatsApp when the chat app announced last year that it had been acquired by Facebook.