WhatsApp has announced the introduction of a new feature called Channels which it says is “a simple, reliable, and private way to receive important updates from people and organizations, right within WhatsApp.”
WhatsApp Channels, unlike a similar feature introduced on Instagram recently that sends such updates to users’ inboxes, will be reaching users through a new tab being introduced on WhatsApp called Updates.
On Updates, users will find the normal status updates from other users posted under WhatsApp’s “story-style” Status feature which has been around for years and enjoys a lot of popularity, especially in Kenya, as well as updates from brands, organizations and other accounts they’ve chosen to follow on the platform.
Recently, WhatsApp has been rolling an update that takes the tabs to the bottom of the app and this is where the Updates tab, alongside the normal Chats, Calls and Communities ones, will reside. The tab we previously knew as Status is what is transforming to Updates.
“Channels are a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls,” says WhatsApp in a statement.
“To help you select channels to follow, we’re building a searchable directory where you can find your hobbies, sports teams, updates from local officials, and more. You can also get to a channel from invite links sent in chats, e-mail, or posted online.”
Channel admins can decide who they want to follow their channel and whether to make them discoverable through the searchable directory or not.
WhatsApp has had a broadcast feature for ages but it’s been very rudimentary with one needing to manually add users to a broadcast group and those messages showing up in a group chat format, not an updates feed style as we’ll get to see with Channels.
One thing Channels will share with that old WhatsApp broadcast feature is the protection of user privacy. Like there, subscribers to a channel (or followers, as WhatsApp calls them), won’t be able to see the details of other subscribers to the channel like their phone numbers and names. Heck, even the admins won’t be able to see the phone numbers. Likewise for admins, their phone numbers and photos won’t be visible to subscribers to their channels.
“Who you decide to follow is your choice and it’s private,” says WhatsApp.
WhatsApp says that Channel updates aren’t ephemeral in the style of Status, which are gone after 24 hours, but won’t exactly be lasting long. They’ll store a channel’s history for a month and they say that they’ll be adding ways “to make updates disappear even faster from follower’s devices”.
“Admins will also have the option to block screenshots and forwards from their channel.”
By default, Channels are not end-to-end encrypted as the aim of the feature is to reach as many people as possible. “We do think there are some cases where end-to-end encrypted channels to a limited audience might make sense, such as a non-profit or health organization, and we’re exploring this as a future option as well,” says WhatsApp.
Channels are available in Colombia and Singapore at first but there’s a promise that they’ll be showing up in more countries in coming months. In the two countries, not everyone can create Channels as WhatsApp is trialing them with a bunch of select organizations. The ability for just about anyone to create a channel will be rolling out in coming months as well.
WhatsApp’s implementation of Channels is very different from Telegram’s. Telegram, which has had its own channels for about 7 years now and which had been touted by many as the example that WhatsApp would base its channels on, has them organized in the app in the same way groups and normal chats are with admins enjoying far greater controls over their one-to-many communications as well as tools such as bots to automate various tasks like reactions, comments, surveys, auto-posting, among others.