WhatsApp spokespersons announced a new feature they've called "channels." You can access it on your phone from a new tab called "News." If you don't see it on your phone, it's because they've announced it will be rolled out to other countries over the next few months. Channels have started appearing in Colombia and Singapore, but were announced in Chile at the end of July.
What are WhatsApp channels about?
Here we tell you everything we know.
Channels: the evolution of group communication
WhatsApp is a communications brand that seeks to evolve the way groups communicate digitally.
The first proposal was the creation of WhatsApp groups , a form of conversation in which multiple users can participate. They can be created by any WhatsApp user and can contain up to 256 members. Groups are useful for communication between friends, family, colleagues, and other communities. Messages sent in a group are visible to all members.
Another option for the brand is WhatsApp broadcast accounts . These allow a user to send the same message to multiple contacts without the other contacts seeing who the other recipients are. Unlike groups, broadcast messages are personal and private, as each recipient only sees the message as if it were sent to them. Broadcast accounts are ideal for sending information to a large group of people without creating a group conversation.
However, after the launch of Communities last year, which sought to help clubs, schools, and residential complexes have a single place for all discussions, the idea of creating channels emerged.
WhatsApp Channels seek to change the way communities, including organizations and authorities, communicate with their followers or users. The idea is to create updates and alerts that efficiently reach those truly interested.
Some of the channels' own characteristics are:
- The phone number and profile photo of administrators or followers are not displayed.
- The administrator will not have access to the phone of his followers.
- Messages sent through these channels will have a maximum lifespan of 30 days; after this date, they will be deleted without any record left by WhatsApp.
- The choice of who to follow is private.
- Administrators can block screenshots or reposting content from the channel.
- Administrators can choose whether or not to display their channel in the directory.
- Information will not be end-to-end encrypted by default.
- Possibility of building a business around the channel, enabling WhatsApp payment services and channel advertising. Brazil and Singapore have already tested this option.
Without a doubt, the channels are Meta's commitment to consolidating WhatsApp as a digital communication tool for building communities and conducting global business.