Inspired by feedback from India’s strong market of over 400 million people, the Meta Platforms-owned messaging service WhatsApp will soon launch a “community” feature, which is effectively a group of chat rooms. India’s most used chatting platform is also looking to increase the file sharing limit from 100MB to 2GB.
The community feature will allow users to bring together different groups with common interests under one roof. WhatsApp says this will allow common information sharing between linked groups.
To list the benefits of the “community” feature, WhatsApp presented the use case of a school with parents from different groups. WhatsApp claims that parent groups divided by student age, extracurricular activities and location can be combined into a single “community“, allowing school management to share information.
Whatsapp says it will also introduce policies to ensure privacy and consent. It ensures that users will have the ability to block, report or silently leave the groups or community. Limits will also be placed on transfer and discoverability.
Furthermore, to make it easier for users, WhatsApp will also expand its voice calling capabilities. The new feature will allow an audio call with 32 people. WhatsApp has also sought to empower group admins to delete messages. Based on user feedback, WhatsApp will also allow users to share emojis.
Company officials confirmed that the new features will be introduced this calendar year.
