WhatsApp has announced the launch of a new feature, Channels. With the channels feature, managers will be able to gain followers and send one-way messages consisting of text, photos, videos, stickers and polls to these followers.
Channels can be discovered via a searchable directory where you can follow related channels including your hobbies, sports teams you follow, updates from local authorities and more, WhatsApp says. There will also be the possibility to join channels via invite links that can be sent via chats or emails or shared online.
WhatsApp has been trying to increase its credibility when it comes to personal data privacy for the past few years. With the launch of the Channels feature, it continues to pay attention to privacy by protecting user data. Followers will not be able to see the phone number or profile picture of the Channel admins, and admins will not be able to see the phone numbers of the followers.
Channels will have a very temporary nature, as channel history will only be stored on WhatsApp’s servers for 30 days. Also, new updates will add ways to make updates disappear from followers’ devices even faster. Since some channels will be private, it will also be possible to prevent taking screenshots and forwarding messages on the channels of the administrators.
WhatsApp said channel administrators could decide to hide channels from the directory and instead choose to share invite links privately. Unfortunately, Channels are not end-to-end encrypted by default, but we are looking into how this option could be introduced in the future where a channel may have a limited audience and more privacy may be required.
WhatsApp reports that Channels will be available first in Colombia and Singapore. In the future, it will spread to more countries. In addition, WhatsApp also stated that it wants to support managers in building businesses on the basis of channels and will expand payment services for this feature…
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