Telegram extends functionality with administrators and larger group chats

Telegram is expanding its app with two new group calling features. First, there are now ‘supergroups’ that can have up to a thousand members instead of two hundred. Second, group conversations can now have administrators.

The administrators are the only ones who can change the name and photo of the group, while they are also the only ones who can add or remove members, the company behind the chat app explains. A group can have multiple administrators or all members can be admins.

SuperGroups is the other new feature, and it works for groups that grow beyond the current 200-member limit. A SuperGroup is almost the same as a regular group chat, but they are set to Silent by default so notifications don’t sound and there are fewer notifications of people leaving or joining the group.

Earlier this year, Telegram already came up with Channels, to which people can subscribe and in which messages appear from, for example, a news site. The jihad organization IS, among others, uses these channels for communication. Telegram ditch 78 of those channels last week, but some are still up and running, Business Insider claims.