WhatsApp Channels is one of the most polarizing sections of the popular messaging app. You can find a channel about anything, but its worst quality is its positioning. Thankfully, WhatsApp is working on a fix.
According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is working on a feature that will introduce channels in your regular chat list.
“WhatsApp is working on a feature that will introduce channels in the chat list in the future. This update will allow users to access channels directly from the Chats tab through a dedicated filter, making it easier to switch between their personal conversations and channel updates,” they explain on their post.
This is absolutely fantastic and fixes my biggest problem about WhatsApp Channels. For long now, they have been sequestered under the updates tab which people mostly use to check Status Updates. The most valuable real estate is the chats feature where people spend a majority of time and this will help a lot.
The biggest benefit with this is that it will fix the biggest problem with Channels: Discoverability. A lot of channels get ignored because most people are not introduced to them. If they get added to the chats, it makes it easier to discover new channels that they can subscribe to.
According to the site, this feature is currently in development and not available for beta testing. This means we will have to wait a while to see this happening.
This development follows the move by WhatsApp to start adding ads to Channels. For hem to maximize on their impressions, Meta may have seen this as a move to make that idea happen.
