Guwahati: Meta-owned WhatsApp, just debuted its new Community feature, which lets users create communities out of up to 20 WhatsApp groups.
The Verge claims that Communities are built to host numerous connected groups within larger groupings of individuals, like a neighbourhood or a workplace.
But immediately after the new feature’s release, users began to compare it to groups and questioned if it was necessary.
WhatsApp released a video on Twitter on Thursday with the tagline, “The difference between Communities and Groups, explained,” in response to the queries.
The WhatsApp group allows users to have everyone join a single conversation and helps to connect with family and friends, whereas Communities helps to bring all related groups into one place, connect with schools, neighbourhoods, camps and more, and keep everyone in the loop with the announcement group.
Administrators can update the entire community using an announcements channel, which is similar to Slack or Discord but with a WhatsApp twist (including end-to-end encrypted conversations).
According to The Verge, communities were originally tested by the firm in April and are now being made available to everyone.
A handful of the new features that Meta is introducing may improve everyday communications. New in-chat polls may be useful for picking a time for a meeting or a movie to watch.
Video calls can now have up to 32 participants, which could be helpful for a big video call in your new Community.
As per The Verge, WhatsApp is also expanding the maximum group size from 512 to 1024 members if you just want to establish a big group.