WhatsApp’s latest feature makes it more like Telegram
WhatsApp lets users create group chats which might be useful for schools, businesses, and individuals who are trying to chat with a large group of users at once. The company also introduced a feature recently called Communities, but now it looks like WhatsApp has introduced yet another new feature called Channels.
If this sounds familiar, it is because other apps, particularly Telegram, have long had that feature. In terms of differences, it’s more or less the same. Channels will allow admins to broadcast one-way messages, meaning that users who join a particular channel will only be allowed to receive messages instead of sending them.
This will be more useful for groups sending out updates, for example schools or universities might use them to update students on upcoming events. Businesses can also use it to update their customers on new menu offerings, opening/closing times, new product launches, updates to existing product launches, and more.
According to WhatsApp, Channels have been built with privacy in mind. Users in a channel will not be able to see the phone number of other users in the channel, so you can join a channel and not worry about your personal information being revealed to others.
That being said, the Channels feature will initially only be available in Colombia and Singapore, but it is expected to eventually roll out to other users in other parts of the world.
Source: WhatsApp