WHATSAPP is rolling out its new Channels feature to more than 150 countries, making the app more closely resemble its social media siblings.
Channels is a broadcast feature that celebrities and sports teams can use to share updates – but users are blocked from sending them direct messages.
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The feature is set to appear on a new Updates tab, which is separate from your usual chats with family and friends.
The Meta-owned messaging app first introduced the feature in Singapore and Colombia in early June.
But in a Facebook post today, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature is going global.
“We’re starting to roll out WhatsApp Channels globally and adding thousands of new channels that people can follow in WhatsApp,” he said.
“You can find Channels in the new ‘Updates’ tab.”
Each Channel is headed by people of interest, be it Olivia Rodrigo, India’s cricket team or Zuckerberg himself.
Companies like Netflix can even have their own Channel, to be used as a “one-way broadcast” tool for fans.
Channel history will also only be available for 30 days before it disappears automatically – forever.
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Admins can even block screenshots and forwards, making the Channel totally private to who’s inside.
At face value, it appears to mirror Stories which have made headway on Meta siblings Facebook and Instagram.
Stories allow influencers and businesses to better engage with followers through the likes of videos, polls and quizzes.
Because of the feature’s likeness to Stories, WhatsApp users weren’t too keen on the idea when news of it first came to light.
“NO, we got all these on FB, Telegram, Twitter, etc already,” one user complained on X (formerly Twitter) at the time.
“WhatsApp is too late, not gonna add yet another channel to what’s already a crowded space in my brain.”
Another said: “Is Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat etc not enough? Now WhatsApp.”
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