Those responsible for WhatsApp introduced a new and important function for the service. About these calls channelsA simple and private way to get news from both individuals and organizations directly via WhatsApp.

This feature is available in a new tab called “News” where users can find both statuses and channels they decide to follow, thus distinguishing them from traditional conversations with family, friends or communities.

Unlike these traditional chats, channels a one-way communication tool: The administrators of these channels are the users who send and use content such as text, photos, videos, stickers, surveys.

Practical content such as hobbies, sports teams, news, recipes that we want to follow, and very long, etc. to access a channel from invite links. The process here is, yes, very similar to that of Telegram channels, which are more bidirectional.

There are other important differences in WhatsApp Channels compared to chats: privacy is protected. For this reason, Your phone number or profile picture is not displayed from admins to followers and the admin won’t be able to know their followers’ phone number. You decide who to follow, and that choice is personal to you.

The channel message log is limited to a maximum of 30 days, but there will be an option to delete this history even earlier. Administrators can also block options to take screenshots or forward content from the channel. These admins will have other interesting options like being able to decide who follows their channels and whether they want their channel to appear in the directory.

Unlike traditional chats, WhatsApp Channels do not encrypt end-to-end information by default. Despite this, they explain at the company: “We believe there are some situations where end-to-end encrypted channels might make sense for a limited audience, such as nonprofits or healthcare organizations, so we’re also exploring this option for the future.

Managers will also have the option to build a business around their channel through WhatsApp’s expanded paid services and promote specific channels in the directory to increase channel awareness.

WhatsApp Channels will initially be available in Colombia and Singapore, where Meta has started collaborations with leaders and organizations to deploy this “pilot” of this new option. From here distribution in other countries will take place “in the coming months”and they will let everyone create a channel.

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