What is a telegram bot and what is it used for
I was faced with a difficult task of classifying a telegram bot. The problem is that there is no classification at all. There is an API for bots, it provides the corresponding functionality for these bots. And as with any other API, it can be used in any way.
But first, let's figure out what a telegram bot is, what does the telegram bot API have to do with it and what is its place in the telegram ecosystem.
A telegram bot is a program that can interact with people and other bots in various ways and methods. For those same people, bots differ from other people only by the prefix bot in the name.
Types of telegram bots
Here I will give my superficial classification of TG bots. Superficial, because it does not cover the entire spectrum of possible applications, because I am composing it from my limited experience. And in reality, everything is limited only by the imagination of the developers (or the limitations of automated constructors) or the desires of customers.
- Bot-tool — in this case, telegram is used as a regular interface for interaction with the user. Like web interfaces, command line interfaces or graphical interfaces of programs. (@FitConditionBot, @tik_api_bot, @MotherSearchBot)
- Chat-bot — are created to communicate and answer common questions asked by users. With the introduction of AI, they can answer almost any question. (@chat9pt_bot, @GPT_chat_chatgpt_bot)
- Manager/helper — something like bot-tools, but most often it is a simple set of the same tools, but under one bot name. They are created to make the work of managers easier. (@rememberwords_bot, @WorkBro_BOT, @avtorazborov_bot)
- Aggregator— collects and sorting a content by type and kind (@LifeLinesBot, @smotret_filmy_robot, @youaudiobot)
- Bot-games — I think it is obvious. (@Strogorsk_9_bot, @moolokobot, @TrueMafiaBot)
- Different types of integrations — If you have any online service or tool, it can be easily integrated into Telegram (@vid — YouTube video, @wiki - Wikipedia search, @GitHubBot—GitHub integration for Telegram)
- Bot payments and monetization
- Websites replacers — work thanks to embedding MiniApps, and if you need a place similar to a website, but you don’t have the skills to build one by yourself, then you can make a whole site on it.
The place of bots in the Telegram ecosystem
Now that you have familiarized yourself with the conditional classification of bots, let's talk about their place in the ecosystem called Telegram. Telegram has several APIs:
- Bot API — provides wide functionality for creating Telegram bots, unauthenticated, programmable users with the bot prefix.
- Telegram API + TDLib — allows you to create your own Telegram clients, and for greater and almost complete customization, use the TDLib library.
- Gateway API — allows you to use Telegram servers to send authorization codes (replacing SMS in short).
If you are also the owner of a site that places a lot of emphasis on TG, then you can add special widgets from Telegram to it. There are a share button, post, login, and discussion.
Features and functionality of bots
And here are the boundaries that any bot developer or telegram bot builder will run into.
Data input. Bots can accept any input from the user, text, audio files... You can enter raw text, press buttons, send /commands or create a special keyboard. If this is not enough, you can create your own input method through webapps.
You can interact with bots in another way.
- Inline mode — allows you to send commands to bots from the input field, on any channel or chat.
- Custom linking is the ability to interact with a bot by entering in the browser address bar
- Attach to a special menu — it is not yet available to everyone, only for confirmed bots. An example will be below ...
The following integrations are available in Telegram, for Telegram and with Telegram:
- Webapps (Mini Apps) — the ability to use HTML, JS, and CSS in telegram. I can give an example of the integration of my bot @TimNgregator_bot
- Business mod for bots
- Support for several monetization systems
- The ability to implement logging on the site using and through telegram.
- The ability to create and place games
- The ability to create and manage stickers
