WhatsApp extends channels feature to Nigeria, others

Meta’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, disclosed this on Wednesday.

The firm said Channels allows users to receive personal updates, noting that people will be able to follow organisations, sports teams, artists, and thought leaders within WhatsApp.

The purpose of the innovation, Meta siad, is to ensure user’s privacy.

Meta said, “If you are new to Channels, our goal is to build the most private broadcast service available. Channels are separate from your chats, and who you choose to follow is not visible to other followers. We also protect the personal information of both admins and followers.”

In June, Meta first introduced Channels to users in Colombia and Singapore. In July, it expanded it to Egypt, Chile, Malaysia, Morocco, Ukraine, Kenya, and Peru. Following this earlier launch in these countries, Meta disclosed that it made some changes to its new feature which has now been launched globally.

Highlighting the updates, the firm said, “Enhanced Directory; You can now find channels to follow that are automatically filtered based on your country. You can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on the number of followers.

“Reactions; You can react using emojis to give feedback and see a count of total reactions. How you react will not be shown to followers. Editing: Soon, admins will be able to make changes to their Updates for up to 30 days, when we automatically delete them from our servers.

“Forwarding; Whenever you forward an Update to chats or groups it will include a link back to the channel so people can find out more.”

Meta assured that in the coming months, it would make it possible for anyone to create a channel, adding that it has also launched an official WhatsApp Channel to keep users up to date on what it is building.

Commenting on how users will get access to Channels, the firm stated, “Channels are a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls. Channels can be found in a new tab called Updates on WhatsApp – where you’ll find Status and channels you choose to follow – separate from your chats with family, friends, and communities.”