Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Anu Joy
There have been multiple reports of WhatsApp testing various features for its messaging service, including a Communities feature, 2GB file sharing, and more. Now, the Meta-owned company has finally made these features official via a blog post.
Communities, WhatsApp’s newest feature, will allow users to structure different related groups under a single umbrella. This will help admins organise groups better. Moreover, they will get the flexibility to either send messages to the entire Community, or send updates in the smaller group subsets. Additionally, WhatsApp has added helpful tools for group admins, such as the ability to relay information to everyone and control which groups can receive the messages.
WhatsApp To Roll Out New Communities Feature
WhatsApp’s new functionality can make it easier to bring related groups together. For instance, consider a group consisting of building members. They may have been added to common groups such as one for building events, park activities, pet owners, etc. The group admin will be able to easily organise the information that needs to be sent to these members via Communities.
WhatsApp Reactions, Admin Delete, 2GB File Sharing Limit
But that’s not the end of it as the popular messaging platform has a few more tricks up its sleeve. WhatsApp will soon get emoji reactions, similar to the reaction functionality found on apps such as Facebook and Slack. This will allow users to simply react to messages with an emoji, instead of flooding the chat with messages.
Additionally, admins will be able to police groups for “problematic” messages. This could be a double-edged sword, as this will give them the power to censor others. Moreover, admins may simply delete messages that they don’t like.
Speaking of people you don’t like, WhatsApp will soon make it easier for you to collaborate with others on group projects. The app is increasing the file sharing limit, which will allow you to send files up to 2GB. Lastly, WhatsApp will also introduce one-tap voice calling for up to 32 people.
“While other apps are building chats for hundreds of thousands of people, we’re choosing to focus on supporting the groups that are part of our daily lives. It’s early days for Communities on WhatsApp and building the new features to support them will be a major focus of ours for the year to come”, says the Meta-owned platform. It appears that we’ll have to wait a while until the new features roll out to everyone.
What do you think of WhatsApp’s new Communities feature? Let us know in the comments.
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