WhatsApp makes a massive change to your app – and it feels a lot like major rival
WHATSAPP is rolling out a major update across the globe that will make the messaging service look more like its social media siblings, Facebook and Instagram.
The Meta custom app introduces a feature called “Channels” that users can click to see updates from organizations and people with a broader message they want to share.
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In a statement this morning on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “Today we’re announcing WhatsApp Channels – a private way to follow people and organizations you care about directly in WhatsApp.”
“We’re starting in Singapore and Colombia, but will be available to everyone later this year.”
According to WhatsApp, it will be a “one-way broadcast tool” for businesses and individuals to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and surveys to friends or even customers.
The company calls it “a private way to follow what matters” and suggests the new feature will allow users to follow local and sports updates.
At first glance, it seems similar to stories that have spread widely on Facebook and Instagram.
Stories allow influencers and businesses to better engage with followers through videos, polls, and quizzes.
Viewers have compared the feature to major competitor Twitter, albeit without the answers or anything like BBM channels from the glory days of the Blackberry phone.
The new feature is expected to appear in a new Updates tab, separate from your usual chats with family and friends.
Meta has only rolled out the feature to WhatsApp users in Colombia and Singapore so far.
However, there are plans to roll out the feature to other countries in the coming months.
WhatsApp says channels will maintain the level of privacy that WhatsApp is known for, such as not allowing admins to add followers to their own channel.
Also, channel history is only available for 30 days before it automatically disappears—forever.
Admins can even block screenshots and redirects, making the channel completely private to anyone in it.
However, channels are not end-to-end encrypted like the rest of WhatsApp.
However, the company has stated that it is considering encrypting some channels over time.
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