META has just announced a new feature for WhatsApp, one of the most popular communications apps used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. For many it is their primary mode of staying informed of news at a community level.
Organisations like schools, local clubs, and non-profit organisations rely on WhatsApp to communicate securely and get things done, a need that only grew over the course of the pandemic.
Communities on WhatsApp will enable people to bring together separate groups under one umbrella. People can receive updates sent to the entire Community and easily organise smaller discussion groups on what matters to them.
Communities will also contain powerful new tools for admins, including announcement messages that are sent to everyone and control over which groups can be included.
There will also be a number of improvements to how groups work on WhatsApp — whether or not they utilise the new Community feature. These should help people share in new ways and reduce overload in larger chats, which is something we can all relate to.
These features will roll out in the coming weeks so people can try them out before Communities are ready.
- Reactions – Emoji reactions are coming so people can quickly share their opinion without flooding chats with new messages.
- Admin Delete – Group admins will be able toproblematic messages from everyone’s chats.
- File Sharing – File sharing will be increased to support files up to 2 gigabytes so people can collaborate on projects.
- Larger Voice Calls – One-tap voice calling for up to 32 people with all new design for when talking live is better than using text chat.
For those worried that this new feature might affect WhatsApp’s dedication to privacy, Communities are inherently private with the same end-to-end encryption.
WhatsApp believes Communities will build on how people interact with groups and says the new feature will be a major focus for them over the coming year. – The Vibes, April 15, 2022
