By Edna Ezinneamaka Onunaku
META’s instant messaging platform, WhatsApp, has added a new feature called ‘Communities’. This was announced on the official blog of the platform on Thursday, November 3.
In the post, WhatsApp stated that it is trying to link people with groups peculiar to their interests.
“As we shared earlier this year, we’ve been hard at work, building Communities, a major update to how people will be able to connect on WhatsApp in the groups that matter to them.
“Today, we’re excited to announce we’ve started to roll out Communities on WhatsApp globally and this will be available to everyone over the next few months.
“The update links people to like-minded circles such as “neighborhoods, parents at a school, and workplaces”.
“It can link multiple associations in one place and organise WhatsApp discussions.
To access the feature, Android users can click on “new communities” at the top of their chats while iOS users can access it at the bottom.
“Furthermore, when users join a community, it is easy to switch between available groups while the admins send updates to the Community.”
According to the statement, from Thursday, WhatsApp is releasing three features: “The ability to create in-chat polls, 32 person video calling, and groups with up to 1024 users.
“Just like emoji reactions, larger file sharing, and admin delete, these features can be used in any group, but will be particularly helpful for Communities.
“In the coming months, more WhatsApp features will be added.”
The company said it is looking forward to user’s feedback.
The new feature is akin to Telegram Channels, although with differences.
