When selecting the comms platform for Pop, we started with by identifying the core needs of our community given our core value propositions, including:

<aside> 🔬 1. A place where projects can be incubated 2. Where private seminars can be held 3. Where project objectives can be clearly tracked and organized 4. Where working chats can selectively be opted into to maximize focus

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As a community fundamentally different than any in the space—focused on Project Management and building—we knew that our need set looked different than common projects. And while our Genesis Community had thrived on Telegram, we also knew the structure of that smaller group might not scale, so we analyzed the strengths and benefits of platforms such as Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp, and Discord.

Keep in mind: Our conclusion is not an indictment of other platforms—just a rationale that worked for Pop’s specific use-case.

While we strongly considered Discord for its lack of friction with NFT collectors, at the end of the day we chose to embrace the “Blue Ocean” strategy of building on Telegram, designed intentionally for the long-term utility core to our mission and target audience.

For transparency, below is an analysis of our objective and subjective findings, and the results it has yielded to date.

Objective Findings

• Telegram users experience a lower volume of security attacks and spam, but not necessarily lower risk vectors
• Telegram’s token-permissioned Video Chats allow for screen-sharing to large audiences while other platforms have finite capabilities
• Telegram’s customization allows for members to engage in a “heads-down” manner where their notifications are not aggregated with other communities
  • Telegram users report opening Telegram for the sole purpose of participating in Pop, allowing us to act more like a vertical company than a community competing for attention amongst the noise
• Telegram provides substantial opportunities to organize content
  • folders
  • pin-able conversations, channels, and messages
  • organized DM management
  • bookmark-able messages
  • the ability to mark and organize conversations as unread
  • collapsable sidebars
  • highly tunable accessibility features
• Other platforms
  • do not allow users to opt out of irrelevant channels
  • provide little view customization
  • jump users to the most recent messages, leaving them unable to start from where they last left off
  • only allow for folder creation on a server level, with no customization
  • do not allow users to mark conversations as unread

Subjective Findings

• The Telegram environment tends to exude a more human, group chat-like vibe
• The product performance is exceptional, and behaves less like a web app
• Platform selection is a point of differentiation that we believe yields high retention once users acclimate
• Current market leaders have stated outrightly that they will not embrace web3
• Those that use it tend to fall in love (see below)