WhatsApp launched this Thursday “communities”, a new function that will allow different groups to be brought together under the same structure (for example: all the activities of a club), and also announced the incorporation of reactions with emojis so as not to overload group chats with new messages.
The new functions will be rolled out over the next few weeks, and will include new features in groups such as sending 2GB files and voice calls with up to 32 people, the Meta-owned company described in a statement sent to Télam.
“Communities” will allow people to bring together separate groups under one umbrella. With this new functionality, you will be able to receive updates sent to the entire Community and organize smaller discussion groups.
At the center of each Community will be a description and menu of groups that people can choose to join, while also allowing you to create a structure for larger and more complex group conversations.
According to WhatsApp, these features are intended to “facilitate the management of group conversations”, such as in schools, clubs and non-profit organizations.
Likewise, the messaging app announced a series of “improvements” in the operation of groups, regardless of whether they are part of a Community or not. One of them, highly anticipated, is the reactions with emojis, which will arrive so that people can quickly share their opinion without overloading the chats with new messages.
The possibility of sharing 2GB files will also be enabled, and the option for group administrators to delete “erroneous or abusive” messages.
Another of the introductions will be voice calls to talk to up to 32 people, which will have a renewed design.
WhatsApp clarified that “the Communities are inherently private”, so it will continue to “protect messages with end-to-end encryption”.
What will the communities be like?
Communities’ focus is on “close-knit groups that need more tools to organize and manage their conversations,” the app described.
The administrators will be responsible for creating and managing the Communities, and will be able to choose which groups will be part of it, either through new groups or by linking existing ones.
They will also have the ability to unlink groups and remove individual members, as well as delete “inappropriate or abusive” messages, as explained by the app.
For their part, users will be able to manage their interactions: configure who can add them, report abuse, block accounts and leave Communities they no longer want to be a part of.
They will also be able to “quietly leave a group, so that not all members are notified”
Unlike social networks and other messaging services, here you will not have the possibility to search or discover new Communities.
To limit chat overload, only Community admins will be able to message all members via Community Announcements by Group.
Another feature of this service is that messages that have already been forwarded can only be forwarded to one group at a time, instead of the current limit of five.
Another clarification made by WhatsApp is that “the user’s phone number will be hidden from the Community and will only be visible to admins and people within the same group.”
According to the app, whenever it becomes aware of Communities that “commit abuse, such as distributing child sexual abuse material or coordinating violent acts or human trafficking, WhatsApp will ban specific members or administrators of a Community. , will dissolve said Community or expel all the members of it”.
“We will use all available unencrypted information, such as the name, description and reports of users of the Community in order to take the appropriate measures,” he remarked.
