By Saviour Adugba
Meta-owned instant messaging platform has announced that it is rolling out four new features aimed at vastly improving the platform and engendering connectivity.
The four features include Whatsapp Community, a feature that allows users organise groups into communities like work, neighbourhood etc.; a 32-people video calling feature, an increment in the number of members that can join a WhatsApp group; and the ability to create in-chat polls.
Making this known in an official blog post, WhatsApp says the community feature will allow users organise multiple groups into a community and also help businesses organisations communicate better.
“Today, we’re excited to announce we’ve started to roll out Communities on WhatsApp globally and this will be available to everyone over the next few months.
“Communities like neighborhoods, parents at a school, and workplaces can now connect multiple groups together under one umbrella to organize group conversations on WhatsApp,” it said.
In the same vein, WhatsApp says it is introducing three other features; including now allowing 32 people on a single video call, increasing the limit on group membership to an astounding 1024 from its earlier allowance of 512 members as well as the availability of in-chat polls.
The latest updates, come on the heel of WhatsApp working closely with organisations that use the platform for business.
“We’ve been working with over 50 organizations in 15 countries to build Communities to meet their needs. We’re excited that the feedback we’ve heard so far is these new tools are helping groups like these better organize and achieve their goals,” WhatsApp said.
The platform says that it will be rolling out the new features over the coming months and also announcing new features soon.
On how to access the community feature, WhatsApp noted “tap on the new communities tab at the top of your chats on Android and at the bottom on iOS. From there, you can start a new Community from scratch or add existing groups.”
