WhatsApp Channels are now available in India, says Mark Zuckerberg: What is it, how to use it

WhatsApp Channels in India:  WhatsApp first announced the availability of Channels on its platform back in June this year. However, at the time, WhatsApp Channels were available only in Singapore and Colombia. Now, roughly three months later, the Meta-owned messaging has announced that Channels is coming to more than 150 countries across the globe including in India.

The new feature was announced by Mark Zuckerberg via an official post on Facebook wherein he said that the new Channels feature is being rolled out globally and that Channels will be accessible via a dedicated ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp. “Today we’re starting to roll out WhatsApp Channels globally and adding thousands of new channels that people can follow in WhatsApp. You can find Channels in the new ‘Updates’ tab,” he wrote in the post.

With this update, organisations, artists and influencers will be able to create their Channel within WhatsApp, which can then be followed by interested people. In India, the company is bringing celebrities such as Katrina Kaif, Diljit Dosanjh, Akshay Kumar, Vijay Deverakonda, and Neha Kakkar and the Indian Cricket Team to Channels.

For the unversed, WhatsApp Channels, just like Instagram Channels, are a one-way-communication stream wherein the channel admins will be able to share updates with their followers. Followers of a particular channel will only be able to share their emoji reactions on a particular post. They will not be able to comment on a post as is possible in case of WhatsApp Communities. WhatsApp says that Channels are separate from a users’ chats and that whom a user chooses to follow is not visible to other followers in the channel. The company also keeps the personal information of both admins and followers private.

WhatsApp says that Channels are separate from a users’ chats and that whom a user chooses to follow is not visible to other followers in the channel. The company also keeps the personal information of both admins and followers private. “As a channel admin, your phone number and profile photo won’t be shown to followers. Likewise, following a channel won’t reveal your phone number to the admin or other followers. Who you decide to follow is your choice and it’s private,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post.

New updates coming to WhatsApp Channels

In addition to bringing Channels to India, WhatsApp has also introduced a bunch of new upgrades to its newly launched Channels feature, which includes a new directory and the ability to edit updates in channel among other things:

— Enhanced Directory: This feature will enable users to find channels to follow. These channels will be automatically filtered based on a user’s country. Users can also view channels that are new, most active, and popular based on number of followers.
— Reactions: Followers can use react to posts in a channel using emojis. Admins will be able to see a count of total reactions on their posts. Individual users’ reaction will not be shown to followers.
— Editing: WhatsApp says that soon admins will be able to make changes to their Updates for up to 30 days, post which they will be automatically deleted from the company’s servers.
— Forwarding: Lastly, when a user forwards an Update to chats or groups it will include a link back to the channel so people can find out more about it.

As far as availability is concerned, WhatsApp said that it will start rolling out Channels globally over the next few weeks and that soon it will introduce a feature that will enable anyone to create a channel.