Team Fordzilla on Telegram

Articles I write on this site are usually written for a general audience, but this post is different. It's for all of Team Fordzilla: the social team, the captains, the drivers, the fans.

Below is an overview of the three elements I created for the Team Fordzilla community and how they work together. 

The three elements are:  
  1. The Telegram channel.
  2. A connected discussion group.
  3. A private group for coordination of channel publishing.
I will assume that you understand the difference between a Telegram channel and a Telegram group. Read this post first if not, then come back.

From the Outside

The Team Fordzilla channel has this public URL πŸ‘‰t.me/TeamFordzilla 

Without having Telegram installed on the viewing device visiting the public URL you'll see a page like the screenshot below πŸ‘‡

Do you see the words "Preview Channel" on the above screenshot? 

That is the channel preview link: t.me/s/TeamFordzilla 

A channel preview lets people, who don't have the Telegram installed, see the channel bio together with a preview of the channel posts. 

The preview page looks like this πŸ‘‡


In the bottom right of each post there's a number indicating how many times the post has been viewed then the account name of the Team Fordzilla publisher who created the post, followed by the time the post was published.

Post timestamps link to the post page. Example post page URL πŸ‘‰ t.me/TeamFordzilla/68

The last channel post pictured above in the preview and below on the post page, is from Team Fordzilla was published by me and is signed with my account Telegram account name "Robert Wallis". 


There is a post page for each update made to the Team Fordzilla Telegram channel.

Underneath any post, on the post page, you will see this πŸ‘‡

  • < > Embed: will provide the post embed code, for people to copy and use on their website.
  • View in channel: opens the post in the Telegram application if you have it installed.
  • CONTEX: highlights the post on the preview page. Useful when it's not the last post made to the channel.

Here is that post embedded. 


That is what people see from the outside. If they are not a Telegram user.

From the Inside

Here is what the channel looks like to me on Android. 


Other Telegram users viewing the channel would see "JOIN" at the bottom. For me and other publishers it says "Broadcast" that's where we would compose a new channel post.

Normal users who have joined the channel would see MUTE at the bottom. Where they can turn channel notifications off if they wish to. 

Note that unlike post views from outside Telegram, each channel post has the "Leave a comment" option.

The channel's bio page looks like thisπŸ‘‡


I added some info links to the bio. The chat symbol, which I have highlighted with a RED ring shows that the channel is connected to a group

Remember the three elements I mentioned at the top of the page? The connected group is the second element. 

The connected group (TFZ Discussionshosts channel comments. Telegram users who leave comments on a channel post are in effect replying to the forwarded post in the connected discussion group. Commenting does not require joining the connected discussion group: just tap "Leave a comment" and comment. But users can, if they wish, join the connected discussion group.

If you join the connected discussion group you can "comment" on any post by replying to the forwarded channel post. You can also start discussions of your own, or reply to posts made by others in the discussion group. 

The connected discussion group is the community space for Team Fordzilla and groups can have up to 200,000 members!

Here is a screenshot of the connected discussion group bio πŸ‘‡


The connected group is not public. It does not have a public URL. 


But there is a public doorway to the TFZ Discussion group for Telegram users, from the Team Fordzilla channel bio.  

Each channel post is automatically Forwarded and Pinned in the discussion group. 
Note the pinned message at the top of the group πŸ‘‡


People can easily tap to navigate between pinned messages. Or view them all on one page. 


Group admins can pin community discussions too and unpin posts if needed. 

Finally

Finally the third element is a private group which is technically unconnected to the channel or the discussion group.
Team Fordzilla captains and drivers who would like to publish to the Team Fordzilla channel are first invited into the TFZ Channel Admins group to get them up to speed. In the private group the channel publishers coordinate and discuss how best to craft Team Fordzilla channel posts. 

All clear? Do you have any questions? 

Feel free to ask below. Or comment on this post. It's the same thing πŸ€“ 

Popular Posts