WhatsApp starts global roll out of Communities feature, groups can now support 1024 users
WhatsApp’s Communities feature will start rolling out globally for all user. Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the announcement in a post. WhatsApp is also increasing the number of users in a group to 1024 and adding new updates to groups including in-chat polls and 32-person video calling. It should be noted that the 32-person video call limit was also announced back in September for call links where a group call could be started creating a link.
“Today we’re launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more. We’re also rolling out polls and 32 person video calling too. All secured end to end encryption so your messages stay private,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the launch of the feature.
The Communities feature was announced earlier this year and is supposed to help users and admins manage their groups better and have more meaningful conversations. WhatsApp sees Communities as a “directory of groups” and anyone will be able to run a community of their own on the platform and then invite multiple groups to join in. However, these groups will only get added to the Community if the admins of the group have accepted the invite. The way WhatsApp sees it there could one community for a certain company with multiple groups from the company getting added to it. Or there could be a Community of all the different parent-teacher groups from one school.
WhatsApp notes that users can tap on the new communities tab at the top of their chats on Android and at the bottom on iOS to start using the feature. Users will be able to start a new Community from scratch or add exing groups. Once in a community, users can easily switch between available groups to get the information they need. Admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community.
It should be noted that WhatsApp will continue with the end-to-end encryption in Communities as well. Further, only those in a particular group will be able to see the messages in that group. The community, though has a broadcast option to message everyone across groups, but it will be visible only to those who have allowed these messages.
Users will also have means to report abuse, block accounts, and leave Communities they no longer wish to be a part of. Phone numbers will be hidden from the Community at large.
