Comment by tjohns
3 hours ago
Yes, you need to register with a phone number, but publicly you'll show up as your @username and that's how most people will interact with you.
And I agree, I think yours is an accurate assessment. Telegram is indeed much more community centric.
That's almost the same as Signal, though on Signal you don't show up as anything. People need to get a username from you to share your contact.