On September 13, WhatsApp started rolling out its latest features to the world’s smartphones. Users in 180 countries now have the opportunity to subscribe to so-called channels.
“It provides a private way to receive updates that matter to you. We welcome thousands of organizations, sports teams, artists and thought leaders who you can follow directly on WhatsApp,” the US subsidiary’s blog post said.
So the channels are separate from regular chats and groups. In addition, no one can know which channels users follow.
The interaction only occurs to a very small extent. There is an option to interact with emojis. However, the channels themselves can be compared to a kind of newsletter.
Users criticize the implementation
The new channels functionality can be found at the bottom left under “Status” or “Current News”. If it’s not visible yet, it will be enabled in one of the upcoming updates. Or you can be put on a waiting list to be placed at the front of the waiting list.
Even before many users can access channels, they want to hide others again. One of the main points of criticism is that there would be social networks such as Facebook, Instagram or Telegram for this type of information transfer.
There are also complaints that the function is activated automatically and status messages are no longer as visible and accessible as before.
WhatsApp has already made the first modifications after testing it in ten countries. It can therefore be assumed that more work will be done to improve the function of the channel.
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