WhatsApp to enroll Communities feature in the instant messaging app
Earlier this year Meta announced the advent of a new WhatsApp feature dubbed WhatsApp Communities.
Recently confirmed by the Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the feature is set to be rolled out globally for all users starting from the US and the UK.
The social messaging platform has also increased the number of users in a group to 1024 users.
Some other WhatsApp groups updates include in-chat polls and 32-person video calling.
“Today we’re launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We’re also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All secured by end-to-end encryption so your messages stay private,” explained Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO on the launch of the feature.
The feature is meant to help users and admins manage their groups better and have meaningful conversations.
Most people might confuse Groups with Communities but the later is a directory of groups where any user can setup and run their own Communities and invite multiple groups to join.
For instance, a company can establish a community where they can add multiple groups related to that company.
Groups can only join a community if an admin has accepted an invite.
To use the feature, a user may tap on the Communities tab at the top of their chats on an Android smartphone and at the bottom on iOS smartphones.
While in the Communities, users will be able to navigate through different groups within the Community, while admins will be able to send important updates to all the groups at once.
Bear in mind that even though users may be in one community, information shared in a particular group can only be accessed by individuals within that particular group that they are involved in.
WhatsApp will continue to maintain end-to-end encryption in communities.
Users will also be able to report abuse, block accounts or leave Communities that they no longer have interest in. And whereas users’ phone numbers will be hidden from the Communities members.
