New Message Received: Telegram is an Effective Political Influence Tool
In the rapidly advancing world of social platforms, it's not uncommon to see a platform slightly change its purpose over time. Instagram began as a stills platform and today prominently displays and prioritizes video, Twitter changed its original purpose regarding short messages, and Facebook doesn't feel the same as it did in the beginning. But even against this background, Telegram's story manages to be unique, especially considering it's only 11 years old. Telegram began its journey essentially as a messaging system between users, with at least initially, its main fame coming from the ability to transfer larger files, particularly compared to its big rival, WhatsApp
However, today Telegram is seen by many as a news platform for consuming current affairs, and as a dense arena for political-advocacy activity. A dense arena, but also a very effective one. Currently, Telegram counts over a million active users in Israel and has experienced a surge of tens of percentages in user numbers since October 7th, which certainly aligns with its current purpose as a news source
By the way, specifically in Israel, Telegram serves as a good solution for consuming current affairs for those who avoid traditional media channels. This is exactly why the daily usage rate of Telegram among religious and ultra-Orthodox users stands at 23-26 percent, compared to 12-16 percent among other groups. Another statistic that aligns with known sentiments of news consumption shows that 24% of men use Telegram daily compared to about 9% of women.
So what are Telegram's strengths that make it such an interesting rising force? Let's focus on the three main ones
High-level privacy and security, achieved through end-to-end encryption available in secret chats, as well as two-factor authentication for enhanced security
Support for various content formats, multiple types of multimedia, file sharing (including larger files), and of course voice messages
High cross-platform functionality - allowing access to multiple devices simultaneously.
Okay, now let's understand what are the substantial advantages that marketers, politicians, and political campaigners find in Telegram
Direct and intuitive communication with potential voters through platform channels and groups
Polling features for collecting feedback from different target audiences
Ability to conduct surveys and use research tools that efficiently collect data
Use of chatbots that enable dialogue with the target audience on the platform
Use of Telegram channels that allow broadcasting messages to an unlimited audience size. While other platforms limit the number of active community members
So how can parties effectively use Telegram? What audience can be found there and in which groups and channels? How can one build the right media mix
To answer these essential questions, extensive and thorough research was required. Just like the one conducted and managed by Hive company (www.hive-impact.com), which researches and monitors Israeli society using NLP and AI technologies. The research examined main influence channels and user distribution, based on a sample of 2,925 Jewish Israeli respondents, across 14 experiments among 14 groups representing different segments in Israeli society - based on gender, level of religiosity, district, age, voting profile, etc
The first phase of the research examined which Telegram groups/channels are preferred among the sample audience, distributed by their political preferences. The second phase examined the uses of each such group on the Telegram network.
According to the collected and researched data, these are the 10 most popular Telegram groups among coalition supporters:
Abu Ali Express - 11.37% of coalition supporters active on Telegram follow this group
Amit Segal - 9.17%
The Shadow - 7.58%
Yinon News (Yinon Magal) - 4.65%
Daniel Amram - 3.67%
Abu Salah Arab Desk - 3.67%
Israel News on Telegram - 3.3%
Israel News - 3%
Hot News - 1.71%
Just Net News - 1.59%
Here are the 10 most popular Telegram groups among opposition supporters:
Abu Ali Express - 13%
Daniel Amram - 6%
Real-Time News - 5.57%
Yediot News - 3.13%
Abu Salah Arab Desk - 3.13%
Amit Segal - 2.96%
8200 - 2.46%
Israel News - 2.43%
Channel 12 - 2.26%
Israel News - 1.91%
Significantly, channels like 'Abu Ali Express', 'Abu Salah', and 'Daniel Amram' receive relatively balanced exposure among coalition and opposition supporters. On the other hand, it's clear that certain channels are characterized as coalition-supporting channels (The Shadow, Yinon News, Amit Segal), while others have an opposition-supporting orientation (Yediot News, 8200, Channel 12).
Here's something important to remember: most Telegram channels appearing in this list maintain an impressive number of followers. It's enough to mention that 'Yediot News Breaking News' channel reaches exposure of close to half a million followers, or channels like 'Abu Ali Express' and 'Daniel Amram' that enjoy constant exposure of over 400,000 followers. Channels like 'Israel News' and 'The Shadow' are also exposed to more than 300,000 subscribers/followers.
To understand just how serious this impact is, one can compare this exposure level to what happens in popular TV shows on Keshet 12 channel, for example. There, particularly strong shows reach an average exposure of about 15-20 percent ratings, which can be translated to viewer numbers between 360,000 and 480,000.
When these are the numbers, and certainly if taking into account that joining a Telegram group is a more active action than watching television which can sometimes be more casual, it's clear there's significant exposure power here. If we add to this the fact that this power is also relatively politically characterized, then parties and their campaigners simply cannot neglect or ignore such an effective influence tool - it's worth incorporating Telegram into every party's advocacy activity mix and doing it smartly while implementing a work model that precisely defines the target audience (who), creates the right messaging strategy for each audience (what) and distributes the messages in the right groups (where).
Among Russian-speaking Israelis, there are several groups that enjoy great popularity and significant following. These are the leading groups in the Russian sector
Likud Boris Epstein's group
Yigal Levin's channel
Newsru
War and Peace in the Middle East - Dina Lisnansky
Intellinews - Israel and the Middle East
Ksenia Svetlov's Telegram channel (former MK
Channel 9
The media research was conducted by Hive company (www.hive-impact.com), which researches and monitors Israeli society using NLP and AI technologie
The research is based on a sample of 2,925 Jewish Israeli respondents across 14 experiments among 14 groups representing different segments in Israeli society