Telegram blog · 9 guides
Telegram Blog: Guides for Channel and Group Owners
This is BTM’s Telegram blog: nine guides for people who run a Telegram channel or group. Pick your problem below and the router sends you to the right one: growing and promoting, fixing a member drop, spotting fake subscribers, hiding a member list, finding IDs, saving profile photos, reporting abuse or earning money.
A Telegram channel is a tool for broadcasting messages to large audiences, and it can have an unlimited number of subscribers.
A Telegram group is a shared chat where everyone can talk, with room for up to 200,000 members, according to the Telegram FAQ.
Looking for Telegram’s own news? That is the official Telegram blog. BTM is an independent store, not affiliated with Telegram FZ-LLC.
Pull a drawer to see its cards. Three guides are cross-filed in two drawers.
Reference desk
What’s going on with your Telegram channel?
Tap the situation closest to yours. The catalog card shows the short answer from the matching guide and the first thing to check.
Growing
Something looks wrong
Safety
Privacy and IDs
Money
- FILED UNDER
- Grow
- SEE GUIDE
- How to get real Telegram members who join and stay
- SHORT ANSWER
- Fix what visitors see first: name, @username, photo, description, a pinned start-here post. The owner can add the first 200 subscribers from contacts.
- FIRST CHECK
- Give every place you share the channel its own named invite link.
The catalog
All 9 Telegram guides, filed by the job they do
Each guide covers one job and links to the others for the rest. Each one also has a tool or check that the pages ranking above it don’t offer.
How to get real Telegram members who join and stay
Real members are people who chose to join. Turn visitors into subscribers who stay: the channel storefront, named invite links, posting rhythm, statistics, and an honest look at when buying members helps.
- Clickable channel-screen mockup
- 10-point storefront check
- Posting-rhythm slider
How to Promote a Telegram Channel or Group: 7 Routes Compared
Telegram Ads, safer paid posts through Suggested Posts, swaps, Telegram search and outside links, compared on cost, speed, targeting and risk.
- Route planner
- 160-character ad checker
How a Telegram Channel Earns Money in 2026 (Telegram Does Not Pay per Subscriber)
The 50% ad revenue share, Telegram Stars, sponsors and your own products, with the real rules, payout times and risks.
- Threshold ruler
- Income calculator
Why Did My Telegram Members Drop? Find the Cause and Fix It
Match the shape of the drop to one of six causes, confirm it in your channel statistics and fix it with an 8-step plan.
- 4-question diagnoser
- Refill-window calculator
Fake Telegram Members: What They Are and How to Spot Them
Bots, abandoned, deleted, farmed and mixed accounts, six checks anyone can run on a channel before paying for an ad, and an honest look at what bought Mix and Real members do and don’t do.
- Channel X-ray calculator
- Views-per-subscriber slider
- What the FAKE label means
How to hide members in a Telegram group (and what to do under 100)
Five taps to hide the list, what stays visible afterwards, and what really works when your group has fewer than 100 members.
- Missing-switch checker
How to Save a Telegram Profile Picture on Any Device
Android, iPhone, Desktop and Web steps checked against Telegram’s open-source apps, why some photos can’t be saved, and who gets notified.
- Privacy simulator
How to Find a Telegram ID: Yours, Anyone’s, Groups and Channels
Your ID is a permanent number, not your @username. See yours or anyone’s on phone, desktop and web, and why channel IDs start with -100.
- ID and link checker
- -100 converter
How to Report a Telegram Channel, Group, User or Message (2026)
Report on any device, pick the right reason and official contact, see what really happens next, and what to do if your own channel was reported.
abuse@telegram.orgdmca@telegram.org@NoToScamtelegram.org/dsa-report- 8-situation report router
- Owner appeal routes
Growth unlocks
What unlocks as your Telegram channel or group grows?
Telegram ties several features to member counts. Choose your chat type, set your size and see which ones are open, which are next and which never apply.
3 of 5 checks open for a public channel of this size.
Stars features
any sizePaid posts, Star reactions, gifts and affiliate programs have no published subscriber minimum. Earning guide
Telegram Ads for this chat
neverTelegram Ads can only link to a channel or a bot. Promote a channel that links to the group instead. Promotion guide
Hide Members
100The switch appears only for admins of groups with at least 100 members (a server value, default 100). Hide members guide
Add subscribers yourself
first 200The owner can add the first 200 subscribers from contacts. After that, growth has to come from sharing and promotion. Real members guide
Channel statistics
~50 to 500The limit is set on Telegram’s servers and not published. Telegram’s channel tour says more than 500; recent guides report about 50. If Statistics is in your channel menu, you have it. Reading the graphs
50% ad revenue share
1,000Public channels with at least 1,000 subscribers get half of the revenue from valid ad impressions, paid in Gram. Inactive accounts don’t view posts, so they don’t earn. Earning guide
Size limit
200,000Groups hold up to 200,000 members; channels can have an unlimited number of subscribers (Telegram FAQ).
Due dates
Which Telegram deadlines should channel owners know?
Eight time limits from the guides, from minutes to years, on one scale. Telegram rules are blue, money is gold, BTM’s own numbers are green.
Median time from order to completion across 1,245 completed BTM orders.
About BTMSuggested Posts: the channel owner is paid 24 hours after the post goes up. Deleted sooner, the buyer is refunded automatically.
Promotion guideGroup admins’ Recent Actions log covers the last 48 hours.
2 days after crediting, ad rewards in Gram can be withdrawn.
Drops guideStars become withdrawable 21 days after you receive them. Store-bought Stars can be refunded to the buyer within 21 days.
Earning guideRefill window on BTM Real and Mix members: drops in that time are topped back up. Free trial members have no refill.
How refills workDefault self-destruct period: accounts offline that long are deleted and leave your count. Users can pick 1 to 24 months.
Drops guideEarned Stars expire after 3 years if you don’t withdraw or spend them.
Earning guideErrata
What do other Telegram guides get wrong?
While rebuilding the nine guides we read the pages that rank for each topic. These five claims came up again and again. Here is what Telegram’s own documents say.
Telegram pays channels for every subscriber.
There is no payment per subscriber. Public channels with 1,000+ subscribers get 50% of the ad revenue from valid impressions, plus the Stars readers spend on them.
How channels really earnThe red FAKE label means a channel bought members.
Telegram’s API describes FAKE as a channel many users reported as a fake or scam, such as a copycat of a brand. It is not a label for bought members.
Fake members guideA group permission can hide the member list under 100 members.
No setting does. Hide Members needs 100+ members, a minimum Telegram sets on its servers.
Options under 100Telegram tells people when you save their profile picture.
It doesn’t. Screenshot alerts exist only in Secret Chats and for self-destructing media.
Profile photo guideJust put -100 in front of any channel ID.
The Bot API writes channel IDs as -(1,000,000,000,000 + ID). For a 10-digit ID that looks like -100 in front; a shorter ID needs zeros after the -100, which the shortcut gets wrong.
Telegram ID guideMethod
How are these guides researched, and who writes them?
Every Telegram feature, limit and number in the guides was checked against a source, in this order of trust.
Four layers of evidence
The FAQ, Channels FAQ, blog posts, Terms of Service, creator terms and feature tours. Used for every feature and limit we state.
core.telegram.org: server values such as the 100-member Hide Members minimum, the FAKE and SCAM flags, and the channel ID formula.
Android, iOS, Desktop and Web code, read to confirm menu labels and when a save button is hidden.
1,246 store orders (read 25 October 2026) and 16 months of Google Search Console data. Used only where a guide says so.
When a Telegram number can’t be verified, the guide says so instead of guessing, as with the server-side limit for channel statistics.
What readers typed into Google
Google impressions on this site, 26 June 2025 to 25 October 2026. Most got no clicks, so the guides were rebuilt around these questions.
Written by the BTM team
We run buytelegrammember.net, an independent store for Telegram members and post views, live since 4 May 2019. That store work is the first-hand experience behind the member, drop and refill sections.
Spotted an outdated step? Telegram changes often. Tell us and we’ll recheck it. More about us on the About page.
- 1,245 of 1,246 orders completed
- 664 buyers
- 48 min median from order to completion
- Since 2019 selling members and views
Key takeaways
- Telegram does not pay per subscriber. A public channel needs 1,000 subscribers for the 50% ad revenue share, while Stars work at any size. Earning
- Hide Members needs an admin and a group of 100+ members. A channel’s subscriber list is already private. Hiding
- The member count includes inactive and bought accounts; views per subscriber tells you more. Fakes
- Members drop for six main reasons, and the shape of the Followers graph tells them apart. Drops
- A Telegram ID is a permanent number, separate from your @username. IDs
- No public number of reports closes a channel; one accurate report with links counts more. Reporting
FAQ
Telegram channel owner FAQ
The questions channel and group owners ask most, each answered in two or three sentences, with a link to the full guide.
01Does Telegram pay channel owners for subscribers?
No. Telegram has no payment per subscriber. Owners of public channels with at least 1,000 subscribers receive 50% of the revenue from valid ad impressions in their channel, plus any Stars that readers spend on their posts.
Earning guide02Why can’t I hide members in my Telegram group?
The Hide Members switch appears only when you are an admin and the group has at least 100 members. Telegram sets this minimum on its servers, and no permission hides the list below it. Channels don’t need the switch, because their subscriber list is already private.
Hide members guide03Why is my Telegram channel losing members?
Usually one of six causes: deleted inactive accounts, removed spam or fake accounts, people leaving or muting after posts or ads, bought members falling off, a broken link or username, or a restricted channel. The shape of your Followers graph shows which one.
Drops guide04How can I tell if a Telegram channel has fake members?
Divide the average views of the last 10 posts by the subscriber count, check whether views vary between posts, read the comments and look at the growth chart. A high count with few, flat views is the usual sign of inactive or bought accounts.
Fake members guide05Why does my channel ID start with -100?
The Bot API writes channel and supergroup IDs as minus (1,000,000,000,000 + the channel ID). For a 10-digit ID that looks like -100 in front. Telegram Desktop and t.me/c links show the bare ID without it.
Telegram ID guide06How do I report a Telegram channel?
Open the channel, open its menu at the top (the three dots on Android, Desktop and Web, or the channel name and then More on iPhone), choose Report, pick a reason, select the posts that break the rules or add a comment, and send.
Reporting guide07Are bought Telegram members real people?
It depends on the product. BTM Real members are active Telegram accounts and Mix members are a mix of active and inactive accounts. Neither group chose your topic, so they raise the number on the channel, not the number of readers.
BTM productsNo question matches that. Try the problem router above, or clear the filter.
Try it
Want to see how BTM works, for free?
Paste a public channel or group link and get 50 free members, one order every 30 minutes, up to 3 a day. Like any bought members they raise the count, not the readership, so treat them as a test of the service and keep growing with the guides above.