If you’ve used Telegram for any amount of time, you’ll inevitably stumble upon its Channels feature, which allows you to follow brands, organisations and agencies and get the latest updates. WhatsApp swiped the idea in June—initially available in ten countries such as Singapore and Colombia—and has now announced it is rolling out its own version, also called Channels, to over 150 countries, including Malaysia.
The Meta-owned messaging service says it wanted to build the most private broadcast service on the market, adding that the channels you follow isn’t visible to other users. It also claims to protect the personal information of both admins and followers.
As part of this global rollout, WhatsApp is also introducing a number of changes to the service in response to user feedback, including a revised directory that automatically filters channels based on the country you’re in, the ability for followers to react to updates and for admins to edit the said updates, and a channel link for forwarded updates. The company is also adding the ability for anyone to open a channel in the coming months.
WhatsApp Channels is just the latest in a string of big, oft-requested changes implemented over the past couple of years. These include the ability to link multiple smartphones to a single account, edit messages and send high-resolution photos.
