WhatsApp from Meta is building Channels to create the most private broadcast service in the world. This is so WhatsApp competing with Telegram, Signal and Snapchat.

Meta is steadily working other new tools, like its AI chatbot and an Instagram chatbot.

It started in 10 different countries and is now expanding 250. There’s even a new WhatsApp Channel to follow updates. This comes right after this week’s announcement from Meta that cross-platform ability is coming to WhatsApp in 2024. Channels are different from chats, and who you follow is not visible to other people.

“Our privacy approach allows users to follow channels without sharing their phone number to any new people that are not in your contacts. Users can choose channels with the confidence that other users won’t see the channels they choose to follow or be able to contact them through a channel” is how WhatsApp describe its privacy policy for Channels.

New capabilities will be added to grow Channels based on user input. In the coming months, WhatsApp Channels will be rolled out to more people after a beta start phase.

They’ve even launched with famous celebrities that have channels ready to go including Zuck, Olivia Rodrigo, David Guetta, Billboard, MLB,  Manchester City, Liverpool and Sky News.

Channels was added to Instagram in February as a sort of copy of Telegram's channels feature.

There are WhatsApp upgrades happening like an improved directory to filter channels based on countries, and the ability to sort through new channels or most active or popular. Also emoji can be used to react to Channels posts.

WhatsApp Channels Features

• Enhanced Directory - Discover channels tailored to your location with automatic filtering. Additionally, explore newly created, highly active, and popular channels based on follower count.
• Reactions - Express your feedback using emojis and see the total count of reactions. Your specific reactions will remain private and won't be visible to your followers.
• Editing - In the near future, administrators will have the ability to modify their Updates for up to 30 days before automatic deletion from our servers.
• Forwarding - When forwarding an Update to chats or groups, a link back to the channel will be included, allowing others to learn more about it.