A big part of Facebook’s overall strategy before it changed its company name to Meta was to standardize various features across its numerous platforms and properties. This often involved incorporating social media like features into WhatsApp which had traditionally been considered little more than an instant messaging app.
A new feature that the messaging app is beta testing indicates that the name change is not going to change Meta’s overall strategy with regards to WhatsApp since it will be one of the most social media focused features that the app has received so far.
The feature that a small set of users have noticed in WhatsApp’s beta version is called WhatsApp Communities. This sounds rather similar to Twitter Communities but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that this feature is actually quite different from anything Twitter currently has to offer because it serves a different purpose than Communities that are on that particular platform.
As per WABI, WhatsApp Communities will basically be a central location in which you can add any and all WhatsApp Groups that you are currently the admin of. This can make it a lot easier for people to manage the various groups that they happen to be a part of, and it can also help create a more community oriented focus within these groups which is definitely something that Facebook has been pushing heavily these past few years after the success it saw with Facebook Groups and the like.
One thing to note about this feature is that it is still not available to Beta Testers. Instead, a preview was shown to them which revealed the introductory message you would get when the feature is finally rolled out. There is a pretty good chance that this feature will be further developed to make WhatsApp more similar to a social network instead of a straightforward messaging app. Whether or not users will enjoy that change remains to be seen, but this feature in particular will be something that the vast majority of them would likely end up appreciating because it can tidy up their WhatsApp groups and centralize them.
Read next: WhatsApp is testing a limited backup plan for users, as Google Drive may change its cloud storage game plan
A new feature that the messaging app is beta testing indicates that the name change is not going to change Meta’s overall strategy with regards to WhatsApp since it will be one of the most social media focused features that the app has received so far.
The feature that a small set of users have noticed in WhatsApp’s beta version is called WhatsApp Communities. This sounds rather similar to Twitter Communities but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that this feature is actually quite different from anything Twitter currently has to offer because it serves a different purpose than Communities that are on that particular platform.
As per WABI, WhatsApp Communities will basically be a central location in which you can add any and all WhatsApp Groups that you are currently the admin of. This can make it a lot easier for people to manage the various groups that they happen to be a part of, and it can also help create a more community oriented focus within these groups which is definitely something that Facebook has been pushing heavily these past few years after the success it saw with Facebook Groups and the like.
One thing to note about this feature is that it is still not available to Beta Testers. Instead, a preview was shown to them which revealed the introductory message you would get when the feature is finally rolled out. There is a pretty good chance that this feature will be further developed to make WhatsApp more similar to a social network instead of a straightforward messaging app. Whether or not users will enjoy that change remains to be seen, but this feature in particular will be something that the vast majority of them would likely end up appreciating because it can tidy up their WhatsApp groups and centralize them.
Read next: WhatsApp is testing a limited backup plan for users, as Google Drive may change its cloud storage game plan