Before Telegram introduced Suggested Posts, partnering with other news channels was a messy, manual process. You’d message another admin, negotiate a swap, wait for approval, then manually repost their content. It took days. Sometimes it never happened. Now, subscribers do the work for you - and it’s all built into Telegram.
What Suggested Posts Actually Does
Suggested Posts isn’t just another promotion tool. It’s a system where your subscribers can send content directly to your channel for you to publish. Think of it like a tip line for news - but instead of anonymous tips, it’s your audience sharing articles, videos, or updates they think you should post. The feature launched in June 2023 and quickly became the default way news channels on Telegram form partnerships.
It works like this: You turn on Suggested Posts in your channel settings. Your subscribers see a "Suggest Post" button. They click it, paste a link, upload a photo, or write a summary. You get a notification. You review it in your moderation queue. You approve, edit, or reject it. That’s it. No emails. No DMs. No back-and-forth.
And here’s the real shift: It turns your audience into your partnership network. Someone who follows both your channel and another news channel can suggest that other channel’s post to yours. Suddenly, you’re collaborating with channels you’ve never contacted - because your readers did the connecting.
Why News Channels Are Adopting This Fast
By March 2024, 68% of Telegram news channels with over 10,000 subscribers were using Suggested Posts. That’s up from just 41% using third-party tools the year before. Why? Because it works.
@CryptoDaily, a finance news channel with 280,000 subscribers, saw a 43% increase in high-quality submissions after turning on the feature. Most of those suggestions came from users who also followed economic analysis channels. That meant @CryptoDaily started getting content they’d never have found on their own - without having to reach out to dozens of other admins.
Another example: @WorldNewsNetwork, a group of 12 regional news channels, uses Suggested Posts to share localized stories across borders. A user in Berlin suggests a local report on EU policy to the main channel. The admins approve it. Now readers in Warsaw, Lisbon, and Athens see that story too. The result? Each channel in the network grew subscribers by an average of 28% in six months.
Compared to old-school cross-promotion - where two admins agree to swap posts - Suggested Posts boosts engagement by 37%. Audience retention on collaborative content jumps to 68%, compared to just 42% with manual swaps. Why? Because the content comes from people who already care about both channels. It’s not an ad. It’s a recommendation from someone like them.
How It Works Under the Hood
Telegram built Suggested Posts to be simple but powerful. You can accept text, photos up to 100MB, videos up to 2GB, polls, links, and documents. Each user can suggest up to three posts per day to stop spam. You can set filters to block keywords like "free Bitcoin" or "click here" - useful for news channels trying to avoid misinformation.
For larger channels, Telegram added extra controls. If you have over 100,000 subscribers, you now need to turn on mandatory verification before publishing any suggested post. That’s because in late 2023, several channels accidentally published false claims from bad-faith suggestions. The fix? A two-step approval: one admin checks the source, another approves the post.
You can also choose who approves submissions. A small channel might let one admin handle everything. A big network might require two or three admins to agree before anything goes live. You can even delay publication by a few hours to give yourself time to fact-check.
And here’s something most people miss: Suggested Posts don’t require Telegram Premium. The basic feature is free for any channel with over 1,000 subscribers. Premium users get better analytics - like seeing which suggested posts lead to new followers - but the core function is open to everyone.
The Downsides - And How to Fix Them
It’s not perfect. About 32% of admins who tried Suggested Posts complained about spam. One channel reported over 200 low-effort suggestions in a single day - mostly copy-pasted headlines with no context or sources.
The fix? Use keyword filters. Block words like "BREAKING", "SHOCKING", "YOU WON’T BELIEVE", and anything that sounds like clickbait. Also, create a simple submission template. Post it in your channel: "Suggest a story? Include: 1) Link, 2) Source, 3) Why it matters to our readers." Channels that do this see 50% fewer useless suggestions.
Another issue: no built-in revenue sharing. If a suggested post brings in ad revenue or paid subscribers, you’re on your own to split the money. That’s a problem for professional news orgs. Some use PayPal or crypto payments manually. Others just treat it as a free content pipeline - and focus on growth over direct profit.
And yes, there’s a risk. Cybersecurity experts warn that bad actors can flood multiple channels with the same false story through Suggested Posts. That’s why verification steps and source checks are critical. Don’t auto-publish anything from an unknown user. Always check the original source.
How to Set It Up Right
Setting it up takes under five minutes. Here’s the exact process:
- Open your channel settings in Telegram.
- Go to "Suggested Posts" and toggle it on.
- Set your approval rules: single admin or multiple?
- Add keyword filters to block spammy terms.
- Post a pinned message explaining how to use it: "Suggest news you think we should cover. Include a link and why it matters."
After that, promote it. Mention it in your daily updates. Reply to suggestions with a thank-you. That builds trust. Users who feel heard will keep suggesting better content.
Top-performing channels also create a "trusted contributor" list. If someone consistently submits high-quality suggestions, give them direct posting rights. That cuts your workload and rewards your best fans.
What’s Next for Suggested Posts
Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, hinted in January 2024 that automated revenue sharing for suggested content is coming. That would be a game-changer - especially for news channels that rely on monetization. Until then, treat Suggested Posts as a growth engine, not a money-maker.
Meanwhile, competitors are scrambling. Discord rolled out "Cross-Server Posts" in early 2024 to copy Telegram’s model. But only 29% of news communities on Discord are using it. On Telegram? 68% of mid-to-large news channels already have it turned on.
The trend is clear: The future of news distribution on Telegram isn’t about who you partner with - it’s about who your audience thinks you should partner with. Suggested Posts turns passive followers into active curators. That’s not just a feature. It’s a new way for news to spread.
Who Should Use This?
If you run a news channel with over 5,000 subscribers, you should be using Suggested Posts. It’s low-effort, high-reward. Even if you’re small, it helps you find content you didn’t know existed.
If you’re a content aggregator, a local news outlet, or a niche reporter - this is your shortcut to scale. You don’t need a team. You don’t need a budget. You just need readers who care enough to share.
And if you’re still manually DMing other admins to swap posts? You’re wasting time. Suggested Posts does it better, faster, and without you lifting a finger.
