Where to start
Before creating a chat, decide three things: topic, audience and format. A narrow topic grows slower but builds a more loyal, active core. A broad one attracts more people but demands stricter moderation.
Channel, group or both
- Channel — one-to-many broadcasting: news, articles, announcements. Comments are added via a separate group.
- Group — many-to-many conversation: discussions, support, networking.
- Channel + chat combo — ideal for most projects: content in the channel, live conversation in the linked chat.
Basic settings
Set a clear name, description and avatar from the start. Enable new-member verification and basic rules — even in a small chat this shapes the culture. Assign a moderator bot and one or two human moderators in advance, before people arrive.
Getting ready to grow
A community with no preparation drowns in spam at the first surge. Set up anti-spam, a welcome message and link filters ahead of time. Mod Assistant Bot covers these out of the box: entry verification, spam removal and welcoming newcomers.
What's next
Once the foundation is ready, move on to attracting your first members and building a content plan — covered in the next Academy guides.