WhatsApp introduces Channels, a new way to follow Celebrities: Here’s how to use it
Did you know you can follow the Indian Cricket team, Katrina Kaif, Diljit Dosanjh, and more on WhatsApp? Check out the new Channels feature and get updates from the people and organizations that matter to you.
Communication with businesses aside, WhatsApp has mostly served the purpose of communicating with the knowns to date, whether it’s family or colleagues. But with the latest update, the platform wants to grow into much more than that.
WhatsApp’s latest update introduces a new feature that will let you follow updates from people and organizations that matter to you, right within the app. Called WhatsApp Channels, the feature is a one-way broadcast tool that will deliver updates in a new tab called Updates, separate from your chats with family, friends, and communities.
Channels are rolling out globally over the next few weeks and will be available in over 150 countries, including India. You can find channels to follow that are automatically filtered based on your country or search for channels by name or category. You can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on the number of followers.
Some of the top celebs, sports teams, artists, thought leaders, and organizations from India and around the world will be present on WhatsApp for you to follow. For example, you can follow the Indian Cricket team, Katrina Kaif, Diljit Dosanjh, Akshay Kumar, Vijay Deverakonda, Neha Kakkar, and many more from India. You can also follow Mark Zuckerberg, who has launched his own WhatsApp Channel, where he will share updates on Facebook and WhatsApp products.
WhatsApp Channels are designed to be the most private broadcast service available, according to the platform. As a channel follower, your phone number and profile photo won’t be shown to the admin or other followers. Likewise, following a channel won’t reveal your phone number to the admin. Who you decide to follow is your choice and it’s private. Also, channel history will only be saved for 30 days.
You can also react to updates using emojis and see a count of total reactions. How you react will not be shown to other followers. You can also forward updates to chats or groups with a link back to the channel so people can find out more. If you want to stop following a channel, you can easily mute or unsubscribe from it at any time.
At the same time, as an admin, you can create a channel using your existing WhatsApp account or a new one. You can also edit your updates for up to 30 days, when they will be automatically deleted from WhatsApp servers.
