Meta, parent company of Facebook, has announced its plans for WhatsApp to roll out an update called Communities, that will enable users to connect in separate groups under one topic and share updates more effectively.
Chief executive officer of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said the update is an "important evolution" for WhatsApp and the feature will be rolled out slowly and in test phases.
Communities will allow users to bring together separate groups under one umbrella so that they can receive updates sent to the entire Community and easily organize smaller discussion groups.
Moreover, Communities will also have new tools for admins, including announcement messages that are sent to everyone and control over which groups can be included.
Zuckerberg added that a similar Community feature will also be introduced on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram in the near future.
According to Facebook's recent report, Facebook Groups, a more private networking tool, now reaches 1.8 billion users per month and it might be compared to WhatsApp Communities due to their similarities in features.
Key Features of Communities
- Reactions – Emoji reactions will be added so users can quickly share their opinion without flooding chats with new messages
- Admin Delete – Group admins will be able to remove irrelevant messages from everyone’s chats
- File Sharing – File sharing will be increased to support files up to 2 GB so users can easily collaborate on projects
- Larger Voice Calls – One-tap voice calling will be introduced for up to 32 people with all new design
