At first glance, having thousands of Telegram members sounds impressive but numbers alone don’t tell the truth. The actual difference between fake and real Telegram members is in one thing: their impact. Fake members make you appear more popular on Telegram, while real members enhance your channel’s power and profitability. The wrong choice of the 2 could kill the actual power of your Telegram channel silently.
What Are Telegram Members?
Telegram members are the people who subscribe or become a part of your Telegram channel or group and receive the content you send. Not all members of a Telegram channel or group are the same. There are the real members and the fake members.
What Are Fake Telegram Members?
Fake Telegram members are the members of a Telegram channel or group who are not real people but a collection of robots or bot accounts created to swell the number of members of a Telegram channel or group. Key characteristics of fake members:
No actual activity or interaction
Do not actually view the posts or click on the links
Have empty or suspicious profiles
Can suddenly vanish without a trace due to Telegram's clean-up operations
What Are Genuine Telegram Participants (Real Telegram Members)?
Authentic Telegram participants are individuals who willingly become part of your channel by participating in any form of engagement with your content. Characteristics of authentic participants or real Telegram members:
Frequently view posted material
React, comment and share on any posts
Remain associated with your channel for an extended period
Possible future customers and long-time followers
There are 3 types of authentic participants or real members:
Organic real Telegram members: Participants grew to your channel by themselves; they were not subject to paid advertising.
Promoted real Telegram members: Participants became acquainted with your channel through either paid advertising or paid advertising campaigns.
Incentivized real Telegram members: Participants received an incentive (i.e., some form of reward), but not gamified as described above, to join.
The Differences between Real Telegram members vs. Fake Participants
Pros and Cons of Fake Telegram Members
You’ll notice channels with a lot of fake accounts tend to have a huge gap between their member numbers and view numbers, making them appear ‘dead’.
Pros and Cons of Real Telegram Members
Real members are the only ones capable of interacting, sharing, and growing your channel organically.
Fake Members Can Destroy Your Channel
While fake members appear harmless at first, they will ultimately weaken your entire Telegram channel from within. Instead of helping your channel grow, fake members will provide a fake foundation for your channel. This is how it will happen:
Engagement Rates Plunge
Fake members do not interact, causing a decline in channel engagement. Engagement rate is one of the biggest risks of fake members. It is calculated by dividing your total number of members by your total engagement.
Fake members will have zero engagement since they won’t view, click, or react to any of your posts. Example: 50,000 channel members and 500 views. This is a red flag for a ‘dead channel.’
To increase engagement rate, you can increase visibility with free Telegram post views. This matters because:
New Users Will Look at Your Engagement
New Users Will Leave Your Channel Due to Low Engagement
Brands Will Not Want to Collaborate with Your Channel Due to Low Engagement
Loss of Trust
Real members can spot a fake member from a mile away. It means members will easily identify fake members. Once they realize this, they lose trust in your channel. When it comes to growing your presence on Telegram, you need to have trust on your side.
Fake members can ruin this trust quickly. The truth of the matter is that your actual users are very smart. They know how to find low views compared to the number of members in your group and lack of reactions or interaction.
When an individual recognizes that you have fake members, they will begin to question your credibility. It takes time to build trust; however; it can be lost in just seconds. Once your credibility is questionable, what happens next?
Users will stop interacting with your channel.
Users will leave your channel.
Your reputation will be affected adversely.
Algorithm Suppression
What Telegram cares about most is your members' engagement, not the number of members. If your members don’t engage, your channel will experience:
Less visibility
Less reach
Less growth
When you have an influx of fake members in your group, Telegram will consider your content to be low quality and irrelevant. The outcome:
Less visibility = Your posts will be displayed less frequently
Less reach = Fewer people see your content
Less growth = Your group stops growing
This creates a vicious cycle low engagement = low reach = low engagement. To resolve this issue, you need real interaction with your audience. You can encourage real interaction by using tools such as free Telegram reactions.
Sudden Member Drops
On a daily basis, Telegram removes bot accounts, causing your channel to lose members. Telegram often removes fake or bot members to improve the quality of their app. If you are a Telegram user, your channel may experience sudden member drops, especially if you are using fake members.
If you are a Telegram user, you will experience sudden member drops, especially if you are using fake members in your Telegram channel. Risks of member drops:
Loss of Social Proof
Loss of Credibility
Unstable Channel Growth
Real Members Are the Key to Growth
Real members don’t just add to your number; they add to your ecosystem. Without real members, your channel cannot grow. If you don’t have real members, your Telegram channel will not experience any growth. They actually do:
Increase post views
Increase reactions and shares
Improve channel rankings
Attract organic members
When Fake Members Can Be Used
Let's be honest, every so often, ways to use fake members do exist; however, they should only be implemented in limited, focused situations. They can never be your primary means of growing your channel. Examples of acceptable uses of fake members:
New Channel Startup: When starting your channel from a zero member base, strategically adding a few fake members can visually establish your channel as a viable option, rather than an empty channel.
Build Social Credibility: A channel with a few members will be perceived as a better choice to new members than an empty channel; therefore, by boosting your channel with a few fake members, you are able to create this positive attitude among potential members.
Testing Growth Processes: Fake members can be used temporarily to test the effectiveness of your content; posting frequency; and engagement methods.
Keep in mind these acceptable uses of fake members should be temporary, as real users will always yield long-term growth.
Checking Real Telegram Members
Some Telegram users think their growth is real, but later they discover that their growth is not natural. Fortunately, you can easily determine whether your Telegram members are real or not through a few checks.
Evaluate Engagement (Interactions & Reactions)
Real members interact with your posts, whereas fake members only view them. If your post receives multiple views, but no reactions, it could be an indicator that many of the people who viewed it are not real members of the group. Look For:
Commenting (In Groups Or In Linked Discussions)
Reactions (Likes Or Emoji's)
Sharing (Sharing Your Post)
Analyze Member Profiles
Take some time out of your day and personally go through a sample of your members. After reviewing only 20-30 profiles you can get an idea of how good your audience is.
Watch For Growth Trends
Real growth takes time (slow or steady), while fake growth bursts suddenly and is not gradual. If your number of members is increasing but the number of views remains constant, then this is a sure indicator that a large majority of new members in your group are not real members.
Track Member Retention
Real members stay. Fake members disappear. Frequent drops in subscribers mean Telegram is removing bot accounts. What to Watch:
Do your members stay over time?
Are there sudden drops in subscribers?
Evaluate Conversion Actions
If you share links, offers, and calls-to-action, your real members will convert. If you receive views but no clicks or conversions, your members may not be real. Test Actions:
Click a link
Join another channel
Participate in a poll
Using Smart Growth Tools for Verification
Perhaps one of the best ways to test your audience quality is by introducing real users and comparing their behavior. Rather than guessing, you add real engagement to your Telegram and see how your community reacts.
This is essentially a ‘reality check’ test for your Telegram. Fake members don’t engage, don’t click, and don’t behave like real people. Real members, on the other hand, engage and behave like real people. Adding real engagement essentially gives you a clear idea of:
Whether your current community is reacting to what you add.
Whether your engagement is improving.
Whether your Telegram has hidden problems.
Indicators You Have Fake Members
While fake members can give your Telegram channel an initial boost, it can also harm your channel in the long run. Therefore, if your Telegram channel wants to succeed, then it should focus on real members.
Still, not sure if your Telegram channel has fake members? The following indicators will help you identify if your Telegram channel has fake members:
Increase Your Real Telegram Members with SMM Plus
It is possible to increase real members on Telegram quickly and easily, but only through the right tools and strategies. Telegram interprets high engagement levels as evidence that the content on your channel is of a quality standard.
When channels have activity, they generate interest from new users. Seeing activity on a channel establishes credibility and encourages users to join or remain active in your channel.
Want to speed this process up? Check out our free growth Telegram services. High engagement will positively impact your channel in the following areas:
Increased exposure to users
Enhanced performance of your channel in recommendations
Increased pace of channel growth
Organic growth of members
Bring in Quality Users
Quality members will eventually (not always first) bring more action and share more value. You can start by bringing in high-quality users such as premium members so, check out for free premium Telegram members.
It is a well-known fact that quality is more important than quantity. Although increasing real members on Telegram is a slow process, they are worth the wait, considering the following benefits:
More engagement
More retention
More value in the long term
Automate Smart Growth
Automation of your conversion rate optimization process can greatly benefit your business, especially if you get it right. Using bots to automate onboarding will increase conversions through creating an immediate effecting of the "Self Definition Theory of Motivation.
BotStart defines users a premium membership with an onboarding bot. We recommend you try SMM Plus free Telegram botstart service.
Invest into Real Quality Growth Services
SMM Plus growth Telegram services are the key to your channel's long-term growth. There is a concurrent number of views on each of your blogs or posts. If you wish to achieve a constant rate of growth, you should consider investing in quality services. For example, with the help of professional tools, you can:
Maintain a constant rate of growth
Ensure a constant number of views for your posts
Create a reliable audience
Create a Successful Telegram Channel
The number of followers you have in a Telegram channel is not what defines your success as an influencer. The true measure of influence is the engagement level of your followers. An increase in followers from phony users may provide you with some early success, but these individuals are costing you long-term results.
You'll gain no engagement and decrease the trust factor with real followers. The perception of success can hold you back as much as the lack of real success. This is especially true on a platform such as Telegram, where engagement is everything.
On the other hand, real followers build your channel exponentially. They're reading your content, interacting with the posts you've shared, sharing your messages, and most importantly, staying put.
They turn your channel into a real-time, growing community. No matter if your objective is influence, building a brand, or making money, it all begins with real followers. If you want to achieve sustainable growth, increased credibility, and performance, the choice is obvious: you need to focus on quality, rather than quantity.
The perfect moment to take your growth strategy into your own hands has arrived. Take your real Telegram members via SMM Plus tools, services and strategies.